Dax Shepard responds to giving 'surrogate' daughter a lap dance
Dax Shepard is sharing the story behind his eyebrow-raising lap dance.
In a recent Instagram post, Kristen Bell shared a tribute to her and Shepard’s “surrogate” daughter Hannah Anderson. Anderson, a singer-songwriter, tied the knot with her longtime partner, Bradley Mackeson, in Oregon on Sept. 16. Bell, Shepard and their daughters Lincoln, 10, and Delta, 8, were all in attendance.
“We are honored to be your LA parents,” Bell, 43, wrote, in part. In her Instagram carousel the actor included several photos from the outdoor nuptials as well as a clip of Shepard, 48, grinding on the bride.
“Was such a lovely post until the father daughter lapdance. Wt actual f,” one person commented.
Added another, “I love this and it looks like an absolute beautiful day, but I’d be kinda weirded out if my 'dad' gave me a lap dance.”
Anderson, however, wasn’t the least bit bothered. On her Instagram story, she called Shepard’s lap dance her “favorite wedding gift.”
Shepard addressed the dance on his “eff won with DRS” podcast. He explained that a song came on that Anderson and her friends all knew.
“They pull a chair out and then they throw Hannah in the chair. And you kind of immediately realize like, ‘Oh, people are going to give her lap dances,’” Shepard said on the podcast episode. “A few different gals are giving her lap dances. I don’t know why I decide this, but I’m like, a girl should have a lap dance from a guy.”
That’s when Shepard said he “hopped” in and did his thing. He noted that people were "laughing."
“Then as I walked away all of a sudden I thought, ‘Oh, crap — her dad,’” Shepard recalled. “Right before I walked over to the dance floor, I said, ‘Listen, we love being her surrogate parents!’”
In her Instagram post, Bell described Anderson as a “surrogate big sister” to Lincoln and Delta, who were flower girls in the ceremony. Bell posted pictures of girls wearing matching white dresses with blue bows in their hair.
Shepard discovered Anderson’s music on YouTube more than a decade ago. At the time, she was a high school student in Houston, Texas, recording music in her bedroom. Shepard was particularly moved by Anderson’s cover of “Blood” by Middle East.
“I listened to it over and over again,” Shepard told Anderson when she appeared on his “Armchair Expert” podcast in 2018. “Then I came home and I told Kristen, ‘Oh my God, you have to watch this girl sing.”
Shepard said he and Anderson became “Twitter friends.” He also developed a relationship with her parents. When Anderson was in California to compete on “American Idol” she reached out to Shepard to let him know she was in town. Hours later, Anderson was voted off the show.
“So you came over and then you were generous enough to play ‘Blood’ for us in the living room. And again I cried,” Shepard remembered.
“It was so funny and cute. You were beside yourself that she was in our living room, and you kept saying, ‘I manifested this,’” Bell quipped.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
