While many parents have to explain to their kids what they do when they "go to work," actors Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard must also explain that mommy is in a massive blockbuster film.
Bell is currently staring as Princess Anna in the Disney animated film, "Frozen II," which opens Friday and is poised to be Disney's sixth billion-dollar grossing film of 2019, according to CNBC.
Shepard and Bell's kids — Delta, 4, and Lincoln, 6 — are well aware that "mom is Princess Anna from 'Frozen,'" Shepard told CBS' "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."
"They know about our work because they've seen 'Frozen,' and they've sometimes seen a commercial on TV or an awards show," Bell told "Entertainment Weekly" on SiriusXM.
But her kids still don't understand what it means to be a "celebrity."
"They think [the attention is] just for the work and I'm happy to keep it that way," Bell said. (To that end, she doesn't let them watch her interviews because she said it "messes with her mind.")
They also know that "mom's more famous than dad," Shepard told Colbert.
And Shepard says Bell makes more money than him too. (Bell and Shepard are not alone: In one in four heterosexual married couples in the United States, women are the primary breadwinner, according to 2018 research from the U.S. Census Bureau.)
Shepard is the host of FOX's "Spin the Wheel," and stars in NBC's "Bless This Mess" and Netflix's "The Ranch." He also co-hosts the podcast, "Armchair Expert" with Monica Padman. But "none of those things pay as well as 'Frozen II,' so I have to do way more things to try and match her," he joked on TBS' "Conan" in an interview Wednesday.
While it's not clear how much Bell was paid for "Frozen II," the success of the original "Frozen" in 2013 suggests she's well compensated. "Frozen" is the second highest-grossing animated film of all time after Disney's "The Lion King," according to Box Office Mojo, with $1.2 billion in worldwide box office sales. And that's not counting money made from merchandise licensed with "Frozen" characters.
Despite their success, Bell and Shepard are known to be frugal and try to show their kids the value of a dollar. They often make the kids hand over money at a checkout line, for example, "so they understand they're not just being given this stuff, it's coming out of our wallets," Shepard told Money.com in 2019.
Or if the kids use up the shampoo bottle during bath time, Bell says, "Mommy bought that shampoo bottle. You hate it when Mommy works late, right? Well, if we waste a ton of stuff in the house, then I have to work more hours to make more money to buy more of that stuff," she said in the same Money.com interview.
"That may sound harsh, but it's true, and I want them to understand that," she said.
At home, they also compost and make arts and crafts out of recyclables, Bell told InStyle in March 2019.
"I think part of it is asking them to cherish the things they have and not have their life be a revolving door of stuff," she told InStyle. "So I think the lesson is twofold — it's not just about money, it's also about cherishing something."
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