It's perfectly understandable if romantic odes celebrities write to their celebrity partners on Instagram annoy you. It can all seem a bit hollow and generic: one hot rich person loves another hot rich person, and here's a picture of them kissing in front of a sunset to prove it. Ain't love grand?
But even the most cynical social media users have to admit the Instagram tribute Kristen Bell posted for her husband Dax Shepard was completely adorable. In celebration of his 14th year sober on Saturday, she wrote a long post about her admiration and appreciation for him and his recovery.
"I know how much you loved using. I know how much it got in your way. And I know, because I saw, how hard you worked to live without it," she wrote.
"I will forever be in awe of your dedication, and the level of fierce moral inventory you perform on yourself, like an emotional surgery, every single night."
Shepard has been open about his recovery from addiction to drugs and alcohol, and has talked in detail about his sobriety on Marc Maron's podcast, "WTF." He's also encouraged other people struggling with substance abuse to seek out treatment.
After actor Cory Monteith died of an overdose in 2013, Shepard used Twitter to encourage people to seek out help, and to champion the benefits of a sober life.
Many professionals working in addictions encourage people in recovery to celebrate sobriety milestones as a reminder of their progress and as a way to keep themselves accountable. Recovery is hard work, after all.
Promises, a treatment centre in Malibu, Calif., writes on its website: "If passive events such as another year of life are worthy of cards, cake, balloons and confetti, then certainly hard-won achievements such as sobriety deserve attention too."
In 2016, Shepard marked his sober-versary anniversary on Twitter.
And Bell responded with a ton of affection and support, of course.
In June of 2016, Bell told E! News that Shepard's addiction changed her perspective. "Seeing the world through his eyes has really opened mine to knowing that [addiction] is a disease and nobody is choosing to drink more than others," she said. "They deserve the attention of a mental health professional, and not the county jail or however else we're choosing to pretend we're fixing the problem."
This isn't the first time Shepard and Bell (Shell? Daxten? Are celebrity portmanteaus even still a thing?) have expressed their adoration and respect for each other on Instagram. Around Valentine's Day last year, Bell posted a very sweet series of photos of the two of them, including one of the tattoo he has of a bell on his ring finger as a tribute to her (he doesn't like wearing rings, apparently) and of him playfully copycatting her over-the-top red carpet poses.
Pretty cute, you guys. Pretty cute.
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