Kristen Bell has spoken candidly about her experiences with PMS, with the actress revealing that she doesn’t think she would be married if she wasn’t able to “self-regulate” while on her period.
The Forgetting Sarah Marshall star opened up about her need to regulate her emotions and urges each month during an appearance on her husband Dax Shepard’s podcast Armchair Expert.
“We are expected to also self-regulate, and, if I acted like I ‘wanted to’ every time I’m on my period, we would 100 per cent not be married,” Bell said. “I self-regulate, and women do on their period, and some women lose control, 100 per cent.”
During the podcast, Bell also acknowledged that there are women who have “debilitating PMS,” but that they are expected to train themselves to “know those things ahead of time”.
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“I will say, sometimes, there are a lot of people that have pretty debilitating PMS, but we, and this is probably because our culture does have Midol and does have a conversation about it, we are actually training ourselves to know those things ahead of time,” Bell said.
Reflecting on her own experiences, the 41-year-old added that the reason that she doesn’t “go bananas” when she is on her period is because “I have been brought up with socialisation that has told me: ‘You will feel bananas a couple days before your period. Don’t scream at everyone, even though that is what you want to do, you can’t do that. What is happening to you is in your brain chemistry and your hormones. And you have to know that knowledge is power’”.
Bell also revealed that she and her friends often keep each other accountable, explaining that they will check in regarding whether their behaviour is being influenced by their menstrual cycle, before wondering whether men also do the same thing with one another when it comes to their own behavioural instincts.
Elsewhere in the discussion, the couple shared the things they appreciate most about one another, with Shepard revealing his favourite thing is his wife’s positivity.
Acknowledging that he is a “cynic to the core,” the actor said: “You were so positive that even I couldn’t punch a hole in it.”
“And I witnessed the crazy ... benefits of it, or rewards of it. I was able to learn I was wrong by watching you. That’s a crazy gift to give somebody. It changed my worldview,” he continued. “I don’t know what quality that is, but that is it.”
The couple, who share two children together, Delta, six, and Lincoln, eight, have been married since 2013.
