Dax Shepard Reveals Terrifying Near-Death Experience: 'It Was Highly Memorable'
Dax Shepard is reflecting on a very scary near-death experience.
The 51-year-old host of Armchair Expert revealed to his latest guest Kaley Cuoco, 40, and co-host Monica Padman, 38, that he almost died in high school.
Keep reading to find out more…
When the topic of near-death experiences came up during the new episode, Dax chimed in with his story: “I don’t know what the definition is. But, I have had the moment, which is among the most unique feelings I’ve ever had in my life, where I went, ‘Oh, I’m about to die. I’m like seconds away from dying.’”
“I was in the back seat of a car. Like I had folded the seats down in the back of a Ford Probe, in like a hatchback, and my friend was driving. We were coming back from Toledo, back up to Detroit.”
He said that it was late at night and he went to sleep in the back of the car after checking if his friend was okay to drive.
“He had the cruise control on 85, and I’m like back there, I’m listening, and the road was really rhythmic,” he said. “Just at that moment, I was like, ‘Oh, that rhythm’s nice. I’m gonna fall asleep.’ And then I just heard gravel hitting the side of the car. And I immediately looked up and he was completely slumped over,” Dax recalled.
He said the car went off the road going 85 mph and even began to turn sideways.
“It’s just pine trees lining that interstate in Michigan. And I started to go … to grab the wheel and there was a moment I just knew it was too far gone. Like we had gone completely sideways. I laid back down and then … we just launched in the air and we started rolling right down the highway,” Dax said.
He continued, “I’m like, ‘We’re gonna hit a tree and that’s gonna be that.’ And I definitely had this moment where I was like, ‘Oh, wow, I’m gonna die in a second.’ And the feeling was shockingly comforting. Like, that I remember.”
After it happened, the Chips star said he believes some chemicals released in his brain that let him feel “very calm” and “kinda weirdly at total peace with it.”
“Then we just rolled like 10 times, ended up upside down. We did not hit a tree,” Dax revealed. “The car was flat. We crawled out the windows … He was okay, and I was okay.”
The actor said that even for days after, he questioned whether he was dead.
“It was highly memorable. This may shock you, but I’ve never been able to fall asleep in a car ever since. So I can never let the other person take a turn driving. There’s no way I could sleep with someone else driving. That’s a wrap on that,” he concluded.
Cher shares a surprising opinion about Dax that she revealed during a previous episode of their podcast. Read more here.