Kristen Bell “never” thought she and Dax Shepard would ever get married—mostly because he told her so.
The pair, who started dating in 2007 and wed in 2013 at the Beverly Hills Courthouse, got candid about their relationship in a recent interview with People magazine.
“We definitely had to work really hard at being a couple because we’re both incredibly, painfully stubborn, and we’re pretty much opposites,” Dax said.
Kristen, for her part, described how she had resigned herself to never tying the knot.
“He has a great argument that the state having a piece of paper doesn’t mean he’s going to be nice to me and by my side for the rest of my life,” she said. “(Instead) that is going to be evidenced by how we treat each other and the commitment that we make.”
She added that she “had surrendered, like ‘OK, well, I’m never going to get any sort of traditional marriage out of this, and that’s OK because I trust him,'” adding that “I really, really trusted him and believed that we were going to go the long haul.”
Dax explained that he’d reached the decision to propose in 2009 because “ultimately, I was like, ‘Well, I’m doing it because my partner wants that.'”
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“Forget the tradition or history of marriage as a concept,” he added, “you knowing I was doing something that I didn’t want to do because I loved you was a big sign for you.”
The pair also reiterated that marriage isn’t easy, no matter how fun and simple they make it look.
“All these movies from the ’80s taught us that it’s love at first sight, and it is supposed to be easy and (that) all you have to do is find that person,” said Kristen. “It took me a while to realize, ‘Oh, that was such a lie,’ because things that you work really, really, really hard for always yield the best results.”
While their schedules are too hectic for date nights out, the pair make sure to spend quality time at home together with their two daughters, Lincoln, 5, and Delta, 4.
“We’ve probably had nine (date nights) in the last six years, if we’re being honest,” Shepard said, adding that they prefer low-key hangouts at home. “We play board games and the kids destroy the house and that’s just a fun Sunday.”
h/t People