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I was sexually abused at the age of 7: Dax Shepard
Actor Dax Shepard has revealed that he was molested as a child.
Actor Dax Shepard has revealed that he was molested as a child.
The 41-year-old former Parenthood star said he was molested at age of seven by an 18-year-old neighbour, reported US magazine.
He said the abuse was “minimal,” but had a profound effect on him.
“It took me 12 years to tell anyone. 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,” he added.
Shepard, whose mother is a court appointed lawyer, also opened up about his battle with addiction. The actor said it is close to impossible to stay away from addiction if one is molested and his mother recently shared a statistic with him that gave him a moment of pause.
“She called me not too long ago and she said, ‘You know, I was just at a seminar this weekend and I learned that if you’ve been molested, you only have a 20% chance of not being an addict,’” Shepard recounted. “And I was like, ‘Hm, interesting,’ because in my mind I just like to ... have a great time. But when you hear a statistic like that, I’m like, ‘Oh no, I was going to be an addict, period.’”
Shepard, 41, said he has been sober since 2004. He and Kristen Bell began dating in 2007 and married in 2013. The couple have two daughters, Lincoln, 3, and Delta, 1.
Read: Kristen Bell loves having “snuggle parties” with Dax Shepard
Read: “Turn it off. I don’t like this,” Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard’s daughter on Frozen
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