Its mid-day on a Thursday in sunny Los Angeles, and Kristen Bell is sprawled out on her bed "taking a deep breath," she says over the phone. For good reason: She's been in motion for much of the past two months, shuttling between Atlanta — where she's been filming the sequel to last year's hit movie Bad Moms—and Los Angeles (the daughters she shares with husband Dax Shepard, Lincoln, 4, and Delta, 2, in tow), where she's shooting the second season of her smart NBC sitcom The Good Place. "Simultaneously" — which is a word Bell uses often, and for good reason — she's been doing voiceover work for a bunch of things, but mainly the much anticipated sequel to Frozen, in which she will reprise her role as Princess Anna. She was taping lines for attractions at Disneyland Tokyo this morning before she decided to rush home to lie down. "I was like, 'I could sit in my car, or I could take the extra 10 minutes to drive home and lie in my bed,'" she explains. "Self-care," she says, her voice only slightly muffled by pillows. "I really believe in self-care."
This kind of stream-of-consciousness sharing is one of Kristen's great charms, and it's why the actress has carved out a reputation for being as open as a 24-hour diner. "Humans want nothing more than to be accepted, and I'm no different. That doesn't happen by presenting perfection," she tells me. "I believe in showing your dirty hands and your bumps and bruises and your faults, because that's what makes people feel connected — and isn't that kind of the purpose of, you know, being on Earth?" Here's more of that kind of wisdom from Bell.
On being asked about "doing it all" and "finding balance": "Being asked 'How do you do it?' implies that a) I am doing it, which I am not—I am doing what everybody else is doing, which is trying their best, and b) What is a balance, anyway? A balance teeter-totters. It moves, something gives and other things take, and other days it might be the opposite."
On the importance of not being perfect: "Humans want nothing more than to be accepted, and I'm no different. That doesn't happen by presenting perfection. I believe in showing your dirty hands and your bumps and bruises and your faults, because that's what makes people feel connected—and isn't that kind of the purpose of, you know, being on Earth?"
On dealing with jerks: "I have gotten to a happy place the last five years or so where I have so much sympathy toward people who are unhappy or jerky. Like, 'Oh, man, we have one ride here — that's how you are going to spend it? What a bummer.'"
On raising her two daughters: "I love having girls. The truest thing in life is that girls rule, boys drool."
For more from Kristen, pick up the October issue of REDBOOK on newsstands September 19.
