Kristen Bell on parenting daughters through puberty: 'Brutal'

Kristen Bell says parenting two daughters through puberty is “brutal”, and that she cries weekly. 

The Nobody Wants This star, 46, spoke to Bustle in an interview published on Thursday, 22 October, about raising Lincoln, 13, and Delta, 11, with husband Dax Shepard.

“Do not think because I am on your television that it is easy for me,” Bell said. “It’s brutal. I cry weekly.” 

Read more: Kristen Bell reveals Dax Shepard's honest thoughts about Mother's Day

She said puberty can make a parent feel alone. 

“Oftentimes when you’re in that cyclone of puberty, you could think, ‘My kid is the only one doing this,’” she said, adding that it is not true. She told the outlet that she makes it work.

Bell and Shepard, 51, keep their daughters’ faces off social media. 

When the girls appear online, their faces are blurred or covered with a heart emoji. Bell said her approach has changed as they have grown up.

“My main job in life is to protect those two,” she explained. The couple concluded that they can share all the cute things when children are little, she said, but once children could be exposed to media or have feelings in response to it, “the equation has changed”. 

Her daughter, she said, “is No. 1”.

In March, Bell celebrated Lincoln’s 13th birthday with a video montage on Instagram, set to Amos Lee’s Sweet Pea. 

She thanked the role models and “the village” who taught them how to be parents. 

Earlier this autumn, she told PEOPLE that her daughters share beauty products but do not “love” the way she dresses.

Bell and Shepard married in 2013. They have long said they are open with their daughters, including about Shepard’s recovery. Bell, who also voices Anna in Frozen, has said that no topic should be off the table.

Read more: Kristen Bell credits husband Dax Shepherd for helping her achieve her dreams