Kirsten Bell is still dutifully promoting The CHiPs movie her husband Dax Shepard made, even though it’s pretty much DOA. It could break even with international and DVD sales but it doesn’t look likely. Plus it just got skewered by critics and stands at 19% on Rotten Tomatoes, which also explains its bad box office – poor word of mouth. It seems like she’s everywhere lately though. I’m only going to cover a couple of her recent interviews because, like many other people, I’m a little burnt out on her and her husband. First off, here’s an interview she did with Bustle where she addressed, in a roundabout way, the criticism she gets in the media. She talked about herself in the third person. I’ve never done this and I can’t remember the last time I heard someone do it in person, but I guess referring to themselves in the third person is a thing for celebrities.

On not caring what people think of her
“You can see me however you want to see me. I try not to look too often to how I’m perceived. I think it messes with your head… my life motto is that I like being an actress, but I love being Kristen.”

On persuading her husband, Dax Shepard, to give her a role in CHiPs
“I was just a d*ck to him at home for awhile. No, I did threaten to do that. But we actually just had a long talk about it, and I said, ‘whatever you decide, I totally get it.’”

On working to ensure that their real-life chemistry didn’t affect the less-than-stellar relationship between their characters
“He made a very good point, which is why he’s a good director — he said, ‘I don’t want anyone even subconsciously to be rooting for us, during this movie.”

[From Bustle]

I understand why famous people try not to focus on how they’re perceived or how they try to separate themselves from their public persona, which is sounds like Kristen is doing. Maybe that’s why she’s calling herself by her own name – that’s someone she keeps separate and private.

Kristen also has a new interview with Parents magazine which was posted on Facebook Live. She’s promoting her relationship with Tide detergent in this case. She talked about telling her children, she has daughters Lincoln, 4, and Delta, 2, with Dax, about race. I don’t know if I get what she’s saying here.

Bell referenced a chapter in the book Nurture Shock, titled, “Why White Parents Don’t Talk About Race.”

“You think, ‘Oh they’re going to see that I have a black friend, and they’ll know it’s OK.’ That’s not the way humans work. We evolved and 200 years ago if we met in a field we would have killed each other if we were from different tribes because the ‘other’ is meant to protect you evolutionarily.”

“Kids will notice differences,” Bell explained. “So we talk to them about it ? like, our best friend is Indian, and we’re always like, ‘Look at this, isn’t this cool? The difference between Monica’s skin and Mommy’s skin? And they’re different colors. Did you know everybody is a different color? We had our first black president’”

She added, “You talk to them about it, so the idea of ‘the other’ is never left alone in their brain.” Bell believes that if parents don’t acknowledge other cultures or the differences between individual human beings, kids may draw their own conclusions based on fear.

“Differences are also important, cultures are important, and it’s important to acknowledge those because if you ignore them, your kids are seeing them, [and] they’re coming to their own conclusions. The topic needs to be open,” she said.

[From Huffington Post, some quotes added]

Her daughters are young so maybe this makes sense in this context but something about this isn’t rubbing me the right way. It’s like they’re pointing out to their kids that people are different and making a big deal about it. She’s so extra though it’s hard to know exactly what she means. Here’s a clue though. Dax once said Kristen had a “fetish” for Indian men as if being attracted to anyone but a white guy was a “fetish.”