Dax Shepard describes a near-death experience that shook him to his core.
During the final episode of his Armchair expert podcast, Dax recalled the incident as co-host with Monica Padman, 38, and guest Kaley Cuoco, 40.
While discussing guest Cuoco’s passion for the true crime genre, he asked the Disappeared star if she ever had a near-death experience.
“No. Is it weird that I would actually want that? I want one,” said the Big Bang theory actress responded, adding, “Because I want to see what these people are… what do they see?”
In response, the host shared an incident from when he was in 12th grade of high school.
Shepard said, “I don’t know what the definition is. But I had that moment, one of the most unique feelings I’ve ever had in my life, where I thought, ‘Oh, I’m about to die. I’m just seconds away from dying.’ ”
“I was sitting in the backseat of a car. Like I had the seats folded down in the back of a Ford Probe, like a hatchback, and my friend was driving. We were coming back from Toledo, back to Detroit,” he remembers.
“It was late at night and I had to work really early in the morning. So I said, ‘Hey, I’m going to sleep in the back. Are you good at driving?’ [He said] “Yes, I’m doing absolutely fine.” He had the cruise control at 85, and I’m there, I’m listening, and the road was really rhythmic,” he added.
“Just then I thought, ‘Oh, that rhythm is nice. I’m going to fall asleep.’ And then I just heard gravel hitting the side of the car. And I immediately looked up and he was all slumped over,” Shepard recalled.
It took him a moment to realize that the car had “left the road” and “traveled 85 degrees” before the vehicle “started going sideways.”
“It’s just pine trees along the highway in Michigan. And I started going… to grab the steering wheel and there was a moment where I knew it was too far away. Like we had gone completely sideways. I laid back down and then… we just launched into the air and started rolling down the highway,” Shepard said.
“I’m like, ‘We’re going to hit a tree and that’s going to be that,’” he said.
The CHiPs Star confessed that he felt strangely relaxed when he thought he was about to die.
“And I definitely had a moment where I thought, ‘Oh, wow, I’m about to die.’ And the feeling was shockingly comforting. Like, I remember that,” he said.
Shepard said he “went from complete fear, ‘S–t, the car is out of control. Oh my God, we’re going to roll. F–k. We’re rolling,'” to eventually feeling “really calm.”
Since the accident, the comedian can no longer sleep in a car and no longer allows others to make a turn.
