- Dax Shepard discussed his marriage on Wednesday's episode of "Tell Me With Ellen Pompeo."
- He admitted he's bothered by comments that "emasculate" him for not making as much as Kristen Bell.
- "That shouldn't bother me at all," he said of tweets that get stuck in his head.
Dax Shepard revealed on Wednesday's episode of the "Tell Me With Ellen Pompeo" podcast that he's sometimes bothered by people on social media who "set out to emasculate" him for making less money than wife Kristen Bell.
Shepard and "Grey's Anatomy" star and podcast host Ellen Pompeo were talking about double standards in the entertainment industry when the "Parenthood" star admitted that he sometimes finds it hard to accept the fact that Bell usually makes more money than he does.
"It's historically emasculating if your wife makes a lot of money," Shepard said. "I'll just say this: I've liked the years I made more than her. I feel more like 'oh right, this is what a man's supposed to do, I'm supposed to be the earner.'"
Shepard called the issue "complicated" and said that even though he's not a person who is "stuck in the '50s" where gender roles are concerned, messages from society and his family have kept these antiquated notions in the back of his mind.
Being a public figure doesn't help matters. Shepard also said that strangers can (and do) leave him "snide" comments on his social-media accounts about his wife's salary that are hard to forget, shaming him and implying that Bell "pays for everything."
"That shouldn't bother me at all," the "Armchair Expert" host said. "I know how much I make. It's a lot."
"Yet, two days later I'll be hearing that fucking tweet in my head. 'Cause that person set out to emasculate me," he continued.
Shepard admitted that becoming a father has quieted some of his insecurities about money because all of the money he and Bell make is for their daughters, Delta and Lincoln, anyway.
New episodes of "Tell Me With Ellen Pompeo" are available to stream on Wednesdays.