Dax Shepard talks about secretly buying opiates amid recent relapse: 'It didn’t pan out — as you would expect'
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Dax Shepard is opening up more about his recent opioid relapse.
While interviewing Chelsea Handler on Armchair Expert, they started discussing drugs and addiction — as Handler is in the process of creating her own cannabis line and has had her own up and down dealings with alcohol. During the conversation, Shepard brought up his relapse, after nearly 16 years of sobriety.
Shepard, 45, started by telling a story about how he’s the “family doctor” — to both family and friends — recounting how his brother was visiting and had a sore shoulder, so he gave him some of his Humira, a prescription medication taken for a variety of reasons including arthritis, for a sore shoulder, despite it being a “very serious immunosuppressant.” While he said his wife, Kristen Bell, didn’t think it was a good idea — as it shouldn’t be done without a physician’s consultation — he did it anyway, the drug worked and then his brother followed up with a physician later.
That led Shepard to declare, “I have the same exact relationship to drugs as you,” he told Handler, who discusses the topic in her upcoming HBOMax standup, Evolution, “which is I do well with them. I don’t get out of control, I don’t...”
That led Shepard’s co-host, Monica Padman, to disagree, having been by his side amid his relapse. She said, “Well...”
It was apparent that Handler didn’t know Shepard broke his sobriety earlier this year after he injured his hand and was prescribed pain pills, leading him to self-medicating. He admitted he was secretly “taking 30 mil” of Oxycotin eight times a day. After telling Bell and Padman he had been using and getting help, he got sober on Sept. 14. He shared the news publicly on his podcast soon after in an episode called, Day 7 — referring to his seventh day of sobriety.
“Well, right. Maybe you heard, I just relapsed on opiates,” he said casually before adding, “but, side note.”
Shepard continued, “ I didn’t ever go berserk [when I used drugs or alcohol]. When I was on ‘shrooms, I wasn’t the guy who lost his wallet and was pissing his pants. And when I did coke... You know what I’m saying? For me at least ... I handle it all well. I don’t have bad trips.”
He also said, “I can drink a fifth of Jack Daniels and still ride a motorcycle. Most people can’t... And riding the line. I feel like I’m pretty good at staying right on the line where I would start feeling a little queasy.”
When Handler asked about his relapse, he said, “I had a bunch of surgeries,” after a motorcycle accident, “and I decided when the prescriptions were done, that it was time to get some and manage it. Then it didn’t pan out — as you would expect.”
That launched into a conversation speculating about what drugs people can handle based solely on their body type.
“I would definitely know you should not be taking opioids,” Handler quipped.
Shepard — who first got sober amid cocaine and alcohol addiction in 2014 — also spoke about his personality, relating it to his addiction.
“I just know that from the age of 12, I was trying to demonstrate to the world at all times that I was immortal and powerful and could ride wheelies and jump s*** and would fight guys and would f**k girls and would take all the drugs.”
Shepard revealed on Sept. 25 that he broke his sobriety, starting six months earlier. He had first gotten sober in 2004 after cocaine and alcohol abuse. He admitted he had also started acting “shady” with sobriety before his dad died in 2012. After his candid podcast, he thanked fans for their support.
Bell, with whom he shares two daughters, recently broke her silence about his sobriety setback, giving her full support.
"He is actually doing really great,” Bell said. She also shared that they started going to therapy together again and vowed, “I will continue to stand by him because he’s very, very worth it.”
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