Dax Shepard was "terrified" about confessing to relapsing.
Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell
The 'CHiPs' actor recently confessed that following his motorcycle accident, he relapsed into taking Vicodin again after several years sober, and he was initially worried about speaking out.
He said: "I did not want to speak out at all. I had all kinds of bizarre fears. I have sponsors on my show - is that something that could cost me money financially? But the number one thing I was afraid to lose was that I get so much esteem out of being someone who's vocally sober, and I have people who write me saying, 'I'm on month one,' or 'I'm week two,' and I love that. It's my favourite thing about being in public. I was terrified I would lose that."
And the 46-year-old actor - who has Delta, six, and Lincoln, seven, with his wife Kristen Bell - revealed it was a friend who encouraged him to open up about his experiences.
He added to The Ellen DeGeneres Show: "I have a good friend that said, 'If your real goal is to help people, it's not very helpful that you're 16 years sober and married to Kristen. That doesn't help people. In fact, that probably makes their life worse. So I just get that that's the actual value - that's the thing I can do that's helpful. When it was framed that way to me, it got a lot easier."
Dax had previously admitted that although his August accident did play a part in his relapse, he has been battling with relapses since 2012 when his father passed away.
He shared: "Eight years into sobriety, I had not done a single shady thing. In 2012, my father was dying. He got diagnosed with cancer in August and then he died December 31. I was going back [and forth] nonstop to do all the treatments with him and take him to chemo … I also got into a motorcycle accident going to work on ‘Parenthood’ [at the time]. I immediately called my sponsor, and I said, ‘I’m in a ton of pain and I gotta work all day."
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