Dax Shepard Offered to Freeze 11-Year-Old Daughter Delta’s Eggs After She Said She ‘Wants to Have a Baby’
Dax Shepard is very supportive of his daughter Delta’s future fertility journey. The only problem? She’s only 11 years old. The Parenthood star revealed that he offered to freeze his pre-teen daughter’s eggs one day in order to give her choices on motherhood and a career, and the conversation is a little unsettling.
In an episode of his Armchair Experts podcast this week, Shepard revealed that his daughter, who he shares with wife Kristen Bell, wants to be a mom one day. “Delty was saying how she can’t wait to have a baby,” he said, per PEOPLE. “For people who don’t know, our life is a traveling circus of Delty’s stuffies. The bulk of our luggage as a family are her stuffies.”
Shepard, who is also dad to daughter Lincoln, 12, with Bell, said he wants to approach Delta’s future motherhood plans without judgement. Which is good, but a kid carrying around a lot of stuffed animals and saying they want a baby doesn’t necessarily mean they are ready for these grown-up conversations around family planning right now.
“She’s saying she wants to have a baby, and I said, ‘When do you think you’ll have your first child? When you turn 18?’ I want to be supportive of whatever,” he continued. “I don’t want to plant any seeds that I’d be judgmental or whatever.”
Shepard shared that his daughter didn’t want a baby at age 18 or between the ages of 35 and 45. He revealed that Delta thought she wouldn’t want to have her first child in her mid-to-late thirties, adding that she told her dad that age range was “crazy” and “too old.”
“Again, she’s 11 so that probably seems like 80,” he said. “She’s thinking mid-20s.”
As he continued to try to nail down exactly when his preteen wants to have a baby, he decided to offer her the ultimate gift: freezing her eggs.
“I said, ‘If you want to, we’ll freeze your eggs when you’re 18. I’ll pay for you to get your eggs frozen so you don’t have to think about that,’” he recalled. Shepard added, “acknowledging all luck and privilege, obviously, this isn’t an option for most people. But I think given where it’s, the trajectory it would make the most sense. I think they’re going to be wrestling with the same thing every woman is. You’re gonna want to do your career….”
When I was a kid, I went from never wanting any kids to wanting 6 kids like my mom. My parents always told me, “That’s your choice!” and “You can decide whatever you want when you’re older.” It was a simple conversation and one that never needed to go further than that — they certainly never offered to freeze my eggs or try to get me to reveal exactly what age I wanted kids. I get treating your kids with autonomy and respect, but that doesn’t mean you have to act like they’re adults when they’re only 11. She may be just starting to go through puberty, with a bunch of changes on the horizon, and she’s going to have a lot of changing feelings about her body, her kids, and her future. She may want to have a baby, and that’s great, but taking it so far as to start planning to freeze her eggs is just odd.
In the past, Shepard has been very open about his feelings on his daughters’ future sex lives. In 2019, when his daughters were just 4 and 5, he told his podcast guest Gwyneth Paltrow, “It’s funny because I tell myself I have a narrative I’m spinning about how I’m going to be as a father of two daughters. Currently, I’m of the opinion, I’m super pro-sex. I am anti-having sex to get approval. I am anti-having sex to get someone to like you or to gain status in a social circle but if my daughters are horny and they have decided they want to have sex, I am very pro-sex.”
During the podcast, Paltrow agreed that she’s “pro-sex if [her kids] feel they are ready.” She also praised Shepard, saying, “You’re really a thoughtful father. I’m always so impressed with how intentional you are of your parenting.”
In a 2023 episode of his podcast, Shepard claimed that he is “very pro-sex,” but he has limits. “Yeah, I’m not gonna love seeing some 25-year-old dude in boxers in my kitchen. It’s not gonna be for me,” he said, adding, “I hope they’re very happy and adventurous” as long as its “in their car like everyone else did.”
Before you go, check out these celebrities who froze their eggs or embryos.