Hollywood star Kristen Bell cops backlash over theme park move

Hollywood superstar Kristen Bell has revealed a decision about her kids she and husband Dax Shepard made while staying near a theme park.

Hollywood star Kristen Bell and her husband Dax Shepard gave “free-range parenting” a try while on holiday in Denmark, and have copped some heat since.

While on the Euro-adventure with daughters Lincoln, 11, and Delta, 9, the couple let the little ones roam around Tivoli Gardens theme park on their own for seven hours, Bell confessed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Thursday.

“We stayed at this hotel that was right at Tivoli Gardens,” the 44-year-old actor explained to viewers of the seven-acre amusement park.

“The hotel opens up into the theme park and so we just were kind of like, ‘Are we going to free-range parenting and roll the die here?’” she recalled.

“They woke up at like 6:00 every morning.

“They scanned their bracelets to go outside,” she continued. “(We) didn’t see them for seven hours. Just running around Copenhagen.”

Kristen Bell with her daughters Delta and Lincoln.

Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard have are being slammed after they let their two daughters roam around a theme park for seven hours alone.

The Golden Globe nominee called the experience “heaven,” explaining, “We just had coffee, we played Spades, and then around 3:00 we’d be like, ‘Anybody see them?’ And then one of them would run up and need a Band-Aid or whatever.”

When host Jimmy Kimmel asked whether “that was OK,” Bell joked that their children are “both alive” and the whole family “returned home”.

The Veronica Mars alum noted that the girls were “allowed on the rides without an adult” since “it’s real loosey goosey over there”.

The chat quickly spiralled on social media, with some criticising their actions online.

“I’m Gen X and even though I had and loved my limited supervision as a kid, I would never let children that young run around a theme park unattended,” wrote one person.

“Safety aside, that’s not fair to the staff and other guests at the park. You’re basically expecting everyone else to care for your children. Hire a babysitter to take them to the park for the day if you need that alone time,” another added.

The couple didn’t see the problem with letting their kids roam the theme park alone.

“My parents were Gen X and had this approach. Super laid back. I ran around the fair, theme parks, and my neighbourhood unsupervised or with other kids. I was almost abducted on at least two occasions,” another warned.

Last year, the couple documented nightmare travel woes when they were left “stranded” overnight in Boston.

The family of four were “kicked out” of the Logan International Airport after making “quite a home” at their gate, so they accepted an offer to stay in a friends’ attic.

Bell and Shepard, 49, welcomed Lincoln and Delta in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Kristen Bell said letting her kids roam free allowed her and husband Dax Shepard to chill.

Kristen Bell spoke of the experience while on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

While the duo choose to keep their kids’ faces off of social media, that doesn’t stop them from sharing stories about their parenting experiences — and clapping back at online haters.

After the “Good Place” alum revealed last year that Delta and Lincoln drink non-alcoholic beer, her husband defended the decision on his Armchair Expert podcast.

“If anyone has a problem … that’s fine with me,” the actor, 49, said in 2023. “I’m not going to change based on what anybody else says because this is our family and not your business.”

In 2020, Bell hit back at criticism over her youngest daughter still wearing diapers at age five, tweeting that her admission wasn’t “humiliating” because “everyone is different”.

This article originally appeared on New York Post and has been republished with permission