Earlier this week, Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard opened up about how sheltering in place has been hard on them as a couple.
When Kristen and Dax joined Katie Couric for a quick Instagram Live interview, they shared how life in close quarters isn’t always peachy.
“We’re getting along good with the kids and we’re getting along good with adults we’re friends with. This has been stressful for momma and dada,” Dax says.
“We’ve been at each other’s throats real bad, real bad,” Kristen admitted.
They were sitting next to each other during the interview, but Kristen says that was “as physically close as we’ve been in a couple of days ’cause we’ve just found each other revolting.”
“America’s sweetheart has some character defects,” Dax added.
Later, it was just Kristen and Katie for the rest of the interview. When Katie suggest that they each carve out some alone time somewhere in the house while self-isolating, Kristen replied, “He’s too big, Katie. He’s too loud and too big. He’s everywhere.”
But it looks like the couple has since figured out how to make things work.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, Kristen opened up why she and Dax didn’t get along when they first started quarantining – and how they’ve dealt with it.
“We’ve gotten on each other’s last nerve these last couple days,” Kristen said. “We’re doing much better now because were laughing about it. But when we were not laughing about it for the first couple of days, that’s the hard spot.”
“I love spending time with him and he loves spending time with me but I think what is different about this quarantine time is you have so much more time to think about the other persona and their actions and sort of replay what they said or attach a meaning to something that they did and that I could do without,” she shares. “Nobody really needs time for that. That’s useless.”
She also shared an important lesson she learned during quarantine.
“The biggest lesson I learned in the beginning was I wrote out the color-coded schedule — when our academic time would be and when our art time would be. By day five, I was making everybody miserable. The kids hated that I was trying to adhere to the schedule,” she recalls.
She came to a decision: “So about a week ago, I woke them up and I said, ‘This is your most important mission ever. Get up.’ I brought them in the kitchen and I had them rip up the schedule. …I had them shred it and they felt so good. I said the learning lesson here is that if you make a plan and it’s not working, you pivot.”
Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Falchuk are also opening up about how being in close quarters for an extended period has brought about tension within the household.
in Goop’s YouTube video titled “How Do You Find Intimacy in Uncertain Times?”, the couple chatted with Michaela Boehm, an intimacy and sexuality expert, discussing problems that can come up between couples who are not used to spending so much time together or dealing with the extra stress of the ongoing global health crisis.
“We’re really lucky we have a really solid relationship, but we’re also in the house with the kids and it’s pretty close quarters,” she shared. “And you know, I think we all feel, especially my teenagers right now, are feeling really pent in — especially Apple, who is a really social creature.”
“We’re really following the strict guidelines so she’s not able to see people she usually sees, so it gets fractious in moments,” she continues. “And there’s definitely tension within the household and we have the added dynamic of step-parent, and I think there is quite a lot of stress that comes from trying to recalibrate to this new normal and new level of proximity.”
Gwyneth also opened up about having issues getting some alone time with her hubby despite being in cooped up together.
“As a couple it’s sort of like, where do you go as a couple when you’re all in the house and you’ve got dogs, and work, and work from home?” she asks. “It’s like, ‘What are you supposed to do?'”
She also asked for advice for a friend who’s having trouble feeling intimate with her partner at this time.
Michaela’s advice?
- Have family meetings to check up on how everyone is doing/coping.
- It’s okay for couples to carve out an hour or two out of their day to be alone together.
- Take time out for self-care amid such a stressful time.
“The female body, when put under stress, goes into survival mode,” Michaela explains. “Food, comfort and eating sweets to up the body fat; most women are reporting these are the things they want to do. They don’t want so much pleasure. Opening to pleasure leads to all others sorts of emotions. It’s fairly normal for women to have emotional response in the context of sexual pleasure and orgasm, crying, even anger, things like that.”
Check out their conversation here.
