Christina Applegate Jokes Dax Shepard ‘Physically Assaulted’ Her While Acting As ‘Security’ For Wife Kristen Bell

Christina Applegate was a guest on this week’s episode of Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, where she recalled an incident in which Shepard apparently pushed Applegate and her ex-husband. (To be fair, Applegate’s particular brand of humor makes it tough to know the line between truth and hilarious fiction.)

The Dead to Me actress said she was trying get backstage to see her friend, Rhett George, in a performance of Hair at the Hollywood Bowl — which Kristen Bell was also in — when Applegate says Shepard acted as “security” to keep the crowds at bay.

“We’re going backstage to see Rhett, and Kristen and you were in front of us, and you were playing security guard and you literally shoved me into a wall,” Applegate claimed. “Yes, you shoved me into a wall, you’re like, ‘Get back! Get back!'”

“There is no way I shoved a woman, especially you,” Shepard said, through fits of laughter.

“Me and my husband, Martin [LeNoble],” Applegate shot back, setting the record straight.

“I might have shoved your husband,” Shepard quipped.

“No, you shoved both of us,” Applegate maintained, before poking fun at the ridiculousness of the situation. “As if I was gonna try to get a piece of the cloth of her clothes… but I’m like, ‘Really dude? We’re going to see Rhett George.'”

While in the moment, Applegate was less than pleased with Shepard, she said now, she kind of admires the fact that the Parenthood actor was trying to protect his wife from the big crowd at the show.

“We were not pleased with you, but I look fondly on it and I laugh, because you were really protective and that’s kind of beautiful, but you were like, ‘Get back everybody!’ as if she was Beyoncé or something — not to say that Kristen…,” Applegate shared.

“She’s not Beyoncé,” Shepard interjected. “No,” Applegate clarified. “… But it was like, the arms were going back and I was like, ‘F–k that dude.’ I love you though.”

Shepard, while taking the moment in jest, was having a hard time “reconciling” Applegate’s story with his image of himself, but still took the moment to apologize to the longtime film and TV star.

“I’m, of course, having a hard time reconciling that story with my image of myself, so let’s just start there, but secondly, I’m sorry. Truly,” Shepard said, sounding sincere. “I must have felt like a lot of people were trying to get her and maybe I overreacted.”

Applegate accepted Shepard’s apology and reiterated that she “laughs” about the moment now, before acknowledging that it was very “crowdy” backstage.

“Her dressing room was to the left and Rhett George was to the right, I believe,” Applegate said, as she continued her recollection of the incident. “I was just trying to get to my friend Rhett George. I didn’t know your wife at that time.”

“What I know for sure, was I clearly didn’t see it was you,” Shepard said in response. “Because, obviously, I’m an enormous fan of yours, always have been, and I feel like we met before this.”

“I apologize for me thinking it was the first time,” Applegate interjected. “I think it’s just the time that stuck out… Martin and I were like, ‘We just got shoved. Like physically assaulted just now by Dax Shepard. Physically… assaulted.'”

While that clearly wasn’t their greatest experience together, Applegate, who worked with Bell on Bad Moms, had other interactions with Shepard, in which she thanked the funny man and his wife for the way they’ve helped shield children of celebrities from being photographed by paparazzi.

“What you guys did for our kids, in the public, we cannot thank you enough,” Applegate said. “I had a baby girl at that time.”

She continued, “You guys had a baby when we did Bad Moms, I think… everybody was there. Mila [Kunis] had the baby. And it was really sweet, because it was a movie about moms.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Applegate, who has been candid about her battle with multiple sclerosis (MS), shared how she uses humor to cope with her diagnosis.

“I make these jokes because if I don’t, I’ll suffocate. I’ll be done,” Applegate shared. “I’m not ready for the healing yet. I will get there. When someone says, ‘Have you accepted this as your new normal?’ No, f–k you, absolutely not.”

The Married with Children alum went on to share some of the symptoms she experiences as a result of her MS diagnosis.

“I have 30 lesions on my brain, like, herpes sores, basically, so sores all over my brain. My biggest one is behind my right eye, so my right eye hurts a lot,” she said, noting that the lesions present themselves differently in each person with MS.

As for the ways her body responds, she noted, “My hand starts to go weird and then I’ll get a seizure-y feeling sometimes in my brain, not all the time.”

Part of what makes her want to be so forthright about her MS battle comes from how she handled having breast cancer back in 2008.

“When I had breast cancer at 36 years old, I went out and I was the good girl talking about, ‘Oh, I love my new boobs!’ That are all scarred and f–ked up. What was I thinking?” Applegate recalled. “My first interview was with Robin Roberts when I had cancer and I’m sitting there lying my a– off about how I felt.”

After “lying” about how she was doing while fighting cancer, she said, “I fell into the wall and sobbed because it was a lie. Everything I was saying was a freaking lie. It was me trying to convince myself of something, and I think that did no service to anyone.”