Dax Shepard Reveals He Was Molested as a Child and Thought it Was His Fault

Who would have thought that the hilarious comedian would have such a dark past? Dax Shepard shared the horrible news that he was molested as a young child and that he believed it to be his fault. The painful confession is the first time the Parenthood actor has ever spoken about it publicly.

In an interview on Sirius XM’s The Jason Ellis Show, Shepard revealed that he was assaulted by an 18-year-old neighbor when he was only seven.

"It took me 12 years to tell anyone," said Shepard, 41. "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."

Although he said the abuse was “minimal,” it definitely had a profound effect on him, and likely contributed to future addiction issues he has struggled with. Shepard has been open about his struggles with addiction, and recently had a breakthrough when his mother, who works with children as a court-appointed advocate for foster children, told him about a statistic concerning addiction and abuse.

“If you’ve been molested, you only have a 20 percent chance of not being an addict,” he said. “And I was like, ‘Hmmm, interesting,’ because in my mind I just like to have a f***ing great time,” he said. “But when you hear a statistic like that, I’m like, ‘Oh no, I was going to be an addict, period.’”

Shepard is married to actress Kristen Bell and the couple has two daughters. He has been sober since 2004.