Dax Shepard Reveals Near-Death Experience That Changed His Life Forever

On the latest episode of his Armchair Expert podcast, Dax Shepard shared the terrifying near-death experience he endured as a teenager.

Shepard and his co-host, Monica Padman, were discussing their respective true crime fascinations with their guest, Kaley Cuoco, when Shepard asked the Big Bang Theory star if she’d ever had a near-death experience. "No,” Cuoco responded. “Is it weird that I kinda wish I did? I want one," she added. "Because I wanna see what these people are…what are they seeing?"

Shepard then piped up to share his own near-death episode. "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,'” he said. "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 continued, adding that he was a teenager when the incident occurred. 

Shepard Recalled the Horrifying Incident

"It was late at night, and I had to work super early in the morning. So I go, 'Hey, I'm gonna sleep in the back. Are you good to drive?' [He said] 'Yeah, I'm totally fine.' He had the cruise control on 85, and I'm like back there, I'm listening, and the road was really rhythmic,'" Shepard continued. "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.

According to Shepard, his friend had been “going 85 [MPH]” and the car had "gone off the road" before the vehicle "started to [roll] sideways." "It's just pine trees lining that interstate in Michigan. And I started…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," Shepard continued.

The Without a Paddle star recalled lying in the backseat, "waiting [to] hit a tree" as the car made its precipitous descent. "I'm like, 'We're gonna hit a tree, and that's gonna be that,'” he told Cuoco and Padman. “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."

Shepard "went from complete fear” to feeling "very calm" within a matter of seconds. In that moment before impact, he felt "kinda weirdly at total peace with” dying. "Then we just rolled like 10 times, ended up upside down. We did not hit a tree," he said. "The car was flat. We crawled out the windows…He was okay, and I was okay."

He Took One Particular Lesson from the Episode

Despite the event occurring decades ago, it still reverberates to this day. "It was highly memorable,” Shepard said. “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.