Dax Shepard reveals childhood sexual abuse

THE actor and husband of Kristen Bell has spoken up about the long-term effects his childhood abuse had on his life.

ACTOR and comedian Dax Shepard has spoken publicly for the first time about a childhood trauma that he says haunted him well into adulthood.

The 41-year-old husband to Kristen Bell has revealed that he was molested as a child by a man in his neighbourhood.

Speaking on radio program The Jason Ellis Show, Shepard — who has been open in the past about his struggles with drugs and alcohol — said he only recently realised that the childhood incident might’ve contributed to his adult addiction issues.

Shepard credits Bell with helping him beat his addiction issues. Picture: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

“My mum is a court-appointed advocate for kids in foster care. She goes to these weekend workshops to stay abreast of things, and she called me not too long ago to tell me if you’ve been molested you only have a 20 per cent chance of not being an addict,” he said.

“And I was like, ‘Hm, interesting,’ because in my mind I just liked to have a f***ing great time. But when you hear a statistic like that, I’m like, ‘Oh no, I was going to be an addict, period’.”

Shepard said the childhood abuse happened when he was seven years old, at the hands of an 18-year-old neighbour.

“It was minimal. It wasn’t anything like what you recounted. But even at that, it took me 12 years to tell anyone that,” Shepard, 41, told Ellis, who had spoken earlier in the interview about being sexually abused by his own father.

“And then all that time, I was like, a) it’s my fault, as generic as that is … and I’m gay, I must have manifested this because I’m secretly gay. I had all these insane thoughts for 11 years or 12 years.”

Shepard has credited Bell, his wife since 2013 and mother to his two daughters, with helping him beat his addiction issues. He has been sober since 2004.