Dax Shepard revealed for the first time on Monday that he was molested as a child.
In an interview on Sirius XM’s “The Jason Ellis Show,” the “Parenthood” star revealed that he was assaulted by an 18-year-old neighbor when he was seven.
“All that time, I was like, a) ‘It’s my fault,’ as generic as that is, I’m like, ‘it’s my fault,” Shepard said. “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 also connected the experience to his previous struggles with addiction, which he’s spoken openly about in the past.
“If you’ve been molested, you only have a 20 percent chance of not being an addict,” he said. “And I was like, ‘Hmm, 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, now 41, is married to actress Kristen Bell and the couple have two daughters. He has been sober since 2004.
Listen to the full interview below: