Dax Shepard shocked his fanbase when he revealed that he’d relapsed after 16 years of sobriety, and now, he’s thanking them for the support and empathy they’ve shown.
The Parenthood star returned to his Armchair Expert podcast to quickly share his gratitude: “Just quickly, I want to say thanks to all the people that have been so unbelievably lovely to us in response to 'Day 7.'”
His co-host Monica Padman said she hoped Shepard “felt loved and supported” after sharing the news and that his fears were “abated.”
“My fears were the opposite of what the result was, yeah,” he replied. “But yeah, struggling with some fraudulent feelings of receiving love based on a f–kup. But, at any rate, I am really, really grateful, and there's so many beautiful, nice people.”
Shepard also cleared up misconceptions about why he shaved his head: “A lot of people said, 'I could see you were high as a kite.’ I actually was not. I was having a metamorphosis, transitional—I wanted to make a physical statement that I was shedding something.”
Shepard revealed his relapse in a September 25th episode, explaining that he brought Padman and his wife Kristen Bell together to tell them a few weeks ago. Since then, he started attending meetings, getting support and experiencing withdrawal.
“I'm sweating bullets; I'm jerky; my back kills. It's terrible,” he said. “I've never detoxed from opiates, and I have so much compassion for these junkies who have, like, f–king cycled through this 20-30 times.”