“It’s a sentimental thing for my girls, right? It makes them feel close to their dad.”
Kristen Bell says her young daughters enjoy drinking nonalcoholic beer, but there’s a deeper meaning behind their unusual choice of beverage.
While appearing on Tuesday’s episode of “Say Yes! with Carla Hall” podcast, the actress revealed her and Dax Shepard’s daughters, Delta, 5, and Lincoln, 7, love O’Doul’s as it “makes them feel close to their dad,” who has been sober for 16 years. According to Bell, 40, the girls have “ordered” beers at restaurants and even drink them during Zoom classes.
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“I’m going to get a lot of flack for this. And let me start by saying I don’t care,” began “The Good Place” star. “You’re allowed to give me any advice you guys want, any of these listeners. You’re welcome to tell me I’m a terrible parent. I don’t care. I’m a great parent, I think. I’m learning every day.”
“And let me stress that it’s nonalcoholic,” she continued, before recalling where Delta and Lincoln’s craving for the beverage began.
“My husband brought home a six-pack of O’Doul’s last night. And my daughters often ask for O’Doul’s. The reason for this is because when we first had our child and my husband would put her in the BABYBJÖRN and we’d walk around the neighborhood, he’d pop a nonalcoholic beer in his hand and the baby would paw at it and put the rim in her mouth. It’s a sentimental thing for my girls, right? It makes them feel close to their dad.”
The “Frozen” star said since O’Doul’s is nonalcoholic — only 0.5 percent by volume — she and Shepard don’t think there is any harm with their daughters drinking them, especially because it contributes to their conversation about Shepard’s sobriety.
“We’re like, ‘I mean, there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s just essentially a bubbly juice.’ Right? There’s nothing in it,” Bell explained. “We also talk to them very much about [Dax’s] sobriety and the importance of it and why Daddy can’t drink.”
Bell said her daughters love their “Doulies” so much, they even brought them to their virtual school.
“This morning, I set them in their Zooms. They have 15-minute breaks where they’re allowed to jump around and grab a snack and wiggle it out,” she recalled. “And I walk in to check on them at 9:30 and both of them are drinking an O’Doul’s on their Zooms!”
“They’re both just sipping their Doulies. And I’m like, ‘What must these other parents and teachers think of me?’ And then I remind myself, ‘You don’t care, Kristen. They can pretend like you’re doing something wrong.’ I would argue that I’m not, because it’s nonalcoholic,” Bell concluded. “If anything, it opens up the discussion for why Daddy has to drink nonalcoholic beer, because some people lose their privileges with drinking. Drinking’s not always safe.”
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