In a candid interview with Dr. Phil, Dax Shepard said he may have had a sex addiction (or at least a form of it) in his past that went untreated. The comments give us even more insight into Shepard’s personal history and growth as a person. For better or for worse, this is interesting stuff.
While on the Phil in the Blanks podcast with Dr. Phil earlier this week, Shepard began with a remark about his sexual history and how he approached sex when he was younger.
“I’d say I’ve had what could maybe be called a sex addiction at some point in my life. Not one that I had to seek treatment for…” he remarked, going on to say, “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.'”
Further shedding light on how that possible sex addiction manifested, Shepard connected a fight he had with a former girlfriend to how he sought to fix his problems with sex.
“I hung up the phone. I was driving in the car and I immediately got horny,” he 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 my brain be, like, taking care of me?'”
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Dr. Phil offered up a possible explanation for Shepard’s behavior, noting that “for every thought you have there’s a physiological correlate. There’s no thought that you have that’s there’s not some hydraulic in your body that goes along with it,” which certainly scans with what Shepard describes.
For what it’s worth, this is the first time Shepard has publicly spoken about anything even close to resembling sex addiction during his life in the public eye. Sure, Shepard is no stranger to living in the public eye, but these comments bring new depth to our understanding of him as a man, and if anything, we can appreciate his candor. For now, it seems he has moved on and is very comfortable and happy as a married father of two.
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