The former 'Parenthood' actor admits he was haunted with 'all kinds of bizarre fears' before eventually deciding to share his story about last year's sobriety slip.

• Jan 27, 2021

AceShowbiz - Dax Shepard agreed to tell all about his sobriety slip on his podcast last year (20) after a friend convinced him he'd be helping more people if he was honest about his relapse.

The actor tells pal Ellen DeGeneres he really didn't want to come clean about his substance abuse issues because he feared he'd lose sponsors of his popular "Armchair Expert" show - and let down fans, who were struggling with drugs and alcohol.

"I had all kinds of bizarre fears, like, I have sponsors on my show, is that something that could cost me money...," he says. "But the number one thing I was afraid to lose was... I get so much esteem out of being someone who's vocally sober and I have people who write me, 'I'm month one', or 'I'm week two', and I love that. That's my favourite thing about being in public, so I was just terrified I would lose that. I really cherish that."

So he turned to a pal for advice.

"I have a good friend that said, 'You know, if your real goal is to help people, it's not very helpful that you're 16 years sober and married to Kristen Bell. That doesn't help a ton of people. In fact, it probably makes their life worse. The fact that you just fell, that's the actual value. That's the thing you can do that's helpful.' "

"So when it was framed that way to me, it got a lot easier."

In a special episode of his "Armchair Expert" podcast, titled "Day 7", Shepard confessed to abusing the drugs he had been prescribed to handle the pain of his injuries after breaking multiple bones during a collision with a car over the summer (20).

In the follow-up episode, grateful Dax seized the opportunity to thank his followers for their support, saying, "I want to say thanks to all the people that have been so unbelievably lovely to us in response to Day 7. (I'm) struggling with receiving some fraudulent feelings of love based on a f**k up. But, at any rate, I am really, really grateful and there's so many beautiful, nice people."