‘The Ranch’ Actor Dax Shepard Reveals He Might Have Suffered From Sex Addiction

Dax Shepard opened up about a possibly dark moment in his past.

The Ranch actor made an appearance in the later episode of Dr. Phil McGraw’s podcast, Phil in the Blanks, and had a candid conversation about his past sexual history.

“I’d say I’ve had what could maybe be called a sex addiction at some point in my life,” Shepard said. “Not one that I had to seek treatment for, but…”

McGraw said at the reveal, “There are worse addictions!”

“There are worse addictions, yes,” Shepard said with a laugh, as first reported by E! News.

Shepard, who has been married to The Good Place star Kristen Bell since 2013, continued saying, “I would just say, ‘I’ve had sex with a lot of people. I like to do it. It’s healthy. Who cares? I’m not getting diseases. I’m single. Whatever.’”

Then after a fight with a then-girlfriend, whom he refused to name, the actor revealed he came to a realization about his urges.

“I hung up the phone, I was driving in the car and I immediately got horny,” the actor remembered. “Now, that is a biochemical feeling; I’m getting a serotonin dump. Whatever I’m getting, that’s a physiological thing: horniness. So, I’m just feeling authentically horny. And I think, ‘Hmm, I’m going to text this girl I know.’ And I text this girl—and there was a delay. And then I just had this moment of clarity. I was like, ‘That’s suspicious. I just felt disempowered by my girlfriend and immediately I got horny. Could me brain be, like, taking care of me?’”

Later, he explained, it made Shepard wonder if his brain “made” him feel horny so he didn’t feel pain.

McGraw agreed that his conclusion was a possibility, saying, “Think about it: For every thought you have, there’s a physiological corollary.”

When it comes to how people’s brains interpret complex subjects, however, McGraw told Shepard, “You assign the meaning to it: This is sexual arousal, this is fear arousal, this is excitement arousal, [so] you just point it in whatever direction your mind wants to take.”

The conversation comes a few weeks after Shepard dealt with a public cheating allegation from Julie Andrews’ granddaughter Kayti Edwards, claiming to have had sex with him after he started dating his now wife. He and Bell quickly denied the allegation.

“Rumors aren’t really anything,” Bell said during the 2019 Golden Globes. “We have a happy marriage and if people don’t want to believe it, that’s their problem.”