Kristen Bell is dreaming of the days where her family of four has left the City of Angeles.
“The prescription out here is hustle, and I want something to feel softer and slower,” the Nobody Wants This star, 46, revealed of life in Los Angeles during the Thursday, October 29, episode of Erin and Sara Foster’s “World’s First” podcast. “It doesn’t have to feel like that. I’ve had plenty of days where I’ve been like, ‘Let’s just go, take a friend and l go to lunch or go ride horses or walk around Griffith Park.’”
She continued, “They’re fewer and far between than I’d like because when I’m here, someone’s calling like, ‘Can you support this charity event? Can you show up at this thing for the show? Can you shoot this thing for me? A friend of a friend is making a short film and they want to get it seen. Can you be in it?’”
Bell and husband Dax Shepard are currently raising their two daughters, Delta and Lincoln, in L.A. amid the actress’ personal affinity for destinations like Nashville.
“It’s, like, because of the amount of opportunities,” she quipped of her mindset. “I almost want to be away from opportunities. I know that sounds terrible.”
Erin, 44, empathized with Bell, who plays a version of the podcaster in her Netflix series. (Erin and Sara, 45, cocreated the romantic comedy loosely based on Erin’s interfaith relationship with now-husband Simon Tikhman. She has since converted to Judaism.)
“I think you and I have that in common where we’re like, ‘Everything is about getting back to our family and getting back home to our kids and our home life and having a home-cooked meal and sitting around watching TV,” Erin noted. “[We’re focused on] the wholesomeness of it, as opposed to chasing this thing. It’s incongruent, like, everything in my soul pulls me back home. That’s where I want to be.”
For Bell, she wants to be able to balance her thriving acting career with a private home life.
“I think that also comes with the privilege of sort of having a hit show ‘cause if any of us were feeling like we were super struggling and we wanted more out of our creative ventures, I don’t think we’d be having this conversation,” she acknowledged. “We’d be like, ‘I got to go to that thing ‘cause I want to get noticed or I want to get my project seen.’”
Bell continued, “I’ve had the luxury of saying, ‘I’ve done it.’ I’ve been to the Oscars, I’ve been nominated for things [and] I’ve hit the mountain peaks, right? I’ve worn so many fancy dresses I can’t even see straight. But, it’s only because of that I’ve learned that, ‘Oh, it still [feels] pretty empty. It didn’t make me feel any differently, but do you know what does always make me feel differently? When I’m home and clearheaded, I’m not doing something or [sending] emails or whatever’s on my to-do list and I welcome my middle schoolers home.’”
