- - Dax Shepard Recounts Near-Death Experience as a Teenager: 'I'm Gonna Die in a Second'

Becca LongmireFebruary 9, 2026 at 11:36 PM

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Dax Shepard

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Dax Shepard revealed he'd almost died when he was in the 12th grade in high school during a recent episode of his Armchair Expert podcast

"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 recalled

Shepard remembered that a car he was riding in at the time had "gone off the road" while they had been "going 85." The vehicle "started to go sideways" and rolled multiple times, but he ultimately made it out alive

Dax Shepard is opening up about having a near-death experience.

During the latest episode of his Armchair Expert podcast, which aired on Monday, Feb. 9, Shepard, 51, told co-host Monica Padman, 38, and guest Kaley Cuoco, 40, that he'd almost died when he was in the 12th grade in high school.

The group had been discussing true crime when Shepard asked Cuoco whether she'd ever had a near-death experience.

"No. Is it weird that I kinda wish I did? I want one," the Big Bang Theory actress responded, adding, "Because I wanna see what these people are ... what are they seeing?"

Shepard admitted, "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,' " recalling, "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."

Dax Shepard

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The actor continued, "It was like 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.'"

"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," Shepard remembered, saying that the car had "gone off the road" and had been "going 85" before the vehicle "started to go 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," Shepard shared.

The podcast host said that he was just "waiting" to "hit a tree" as the accident was happening, telling the group, "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."

Shepard said he "went from complete fear, 'S--t, the car's out of control. Oh my God, we're gonna roll. F--k. We're rolling,'" to him eventually feeling "very calm."

He said he thinks chemicals in his brain had been released and made him feel, "kinda weirdly at total peace with it," amid the accident.

"Then we just rolled like 10 times, ended up upside down. We did not hit a tree," Shephard said. "The car was flat. We crawled out the windows … He was okay, and I was okay."

Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard

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The comedian said he now wants to "talk to other folks because the trippiest part for me was post that event for about three days."

He said he questioned whether he had actually died for days afterward. "Because I already went, 'Oh, I'm dead' and I accepted it. For the next three days, I'd just be places that I felt very peculiar like, 'Am I dead? I know I died.' That was the weirdest part of the whole thing," he recalled.

Shepard said that the experience had a lasting effect on him, despite it happening years ago.

"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," he insisted, adding, "There's no way I could sleep with someone else driving. That's a wrap on that."

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”