Kristen Bell's Fallon Appearance Confirms Anniversary Scandal Soured Her Reputation

Notoriously candid couple Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard have had their fair share of weird public moments, some of which have ruffled some feathers. Case in point, to celebrate their 12th wedding anniversary, Bell made a scandalous tongue-in-cheek post on Instagram that got people pretty wound up. In the caption, Bell made a joke about how Shepard promised, "I would never kill you." Doing so got the attention of fans, as well as the account for the show "Dateline," which simply responded with, "Screenshotted." However, it seems that neither Bell nor Shepard is willing to confront the fallout, which was made evident by Bell's October 23, 2025, appearance on the "Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon."

During her sit-down with the affable host, Bell neatly avoided any mention of her anniversary post or even Shepard. Of course, her job was to promote the second season of "Nobody Wants This," which she did, but her choice to sidestep any mention of having a husband felt a bit off. For much of the interview with Fallon, Bell discussed how much she likes to vacation, as if she herself were longing to get away from it all. Considering that Bell loves to talk about the secrets to her successful marriage to Shepard, her silence on the topic while sitting across the desk from Fallon felt pointed.

In the wake of the infamous anniversary post from Kristen Bell, many online took to the comment section to air their grievances. Ranging from critique of the joke, with a user writing, "is this... supposed to be funny?" to several people pointing out that this post was made during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, it seemed that people were fairly riled up. 

Following the criticism, Bell took steps to limit her social media comments, according to Page Six. However, people still followed her to YouTube to ask why she didn't discuss the scandal in her interview with Jimmy Fallon."Weird that IG post wasn't mentioned," wrote one account. However, they were the lone comment left standing — previous comments criticizing Bell's failure to be forthcoming have since been scrubbed. 

Notably, this is not Bell's first instance of handling bad press. There was the time Bell got backlash for her Hello Bello commercial, which had Bell's cutting sense of humor rubbing people the wrong way. For now, it might be best for Bell to remind people that she was once in a Lifetime movie, but that doesn't mean her life looks like a bad one.

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.