Kristen Bell has always been fascinated with sloths and has not once hidden her enthusiasm for the three-toed creatures, one of which she received for her 31st birthday. The actress’s love for these animals and the length to which her husband, then fiance, Dax Shepard went to procure one for her is what is now known as the Kristen Bell sloth saga. Let’s take a trip down memory lane to understand the actress’ fascination for sloths and how excited she was at coming face to face with one on her 31st birthday.
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When did Kristen Bell first encounter a sloth?
Kristen Bell encountered a sloth for the first time on July 18, 2011. July 18, is a quite significant date in the life of the actress. To simplify things, July 18 is Kristen Bell’s birthday as she was born on July 18, 1980. Everyone loves to get birthday presents on their birthday and Kristen couldn’t be happier with the birthday gift that was presented to her to mark her 31st birthday celebration.
Dax Shepard, Kristen’s fiance at the time, now her husband, had decided that a sloth was a perfect gift to celebrate his fiance’s 31st birthday and had somehow managed to get his hands on one. The actress’ present arrived on the day of the party and Shepard let her know that her present had just arrived. He urged her to go to the back room so he could have the gift brought to her.
His actions invariably got Kristen excited about her gift and something inside of her alerted her to the possibility that it might be a sloth even though she had no way of being certain. Even before she was eventually presented with the notoriously slow three-toed animal, Kristen broke down uncontrollably in tears that were brought on by her excitement.
To the uninformed, Dax Shepard’s choice of a birthday gift may seem unconventional and rather mundane as most men would have gone for classic gifts such as expensive jewelry, flowers, chocolates, and the like. In truth, however, his choice was quite thoughtful, and sweet, and bears all the hallmarks of someone who pays close attention to the needs and wants of his partner.
Having been in a relationship with Kristen Bell for such a long time, Dax must have heard the actress express her love and fascination for sloths. He, therefore, thought that getting her a sloth for her birthday was the perfect way to show her just how much he cared about fulfilling her wishes and desires no matter how unconventional they may be. Her priceless reaction at the time shows that he had the right instinct and it is also a reaction that will live long in the minds of, first Dax Shepard and then all the members of the public who got to see the footage of her reaction on The Ellen DeGeneres Show a few years later, courtesy of Kristen’s husband, Dax, who had filmed the entire scene before sharing it with Ellen.
As stated earlier, Kristen Bell was a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show sometime after the actress had received the sloth for her 31st birthday. Not to be left out of the fun, Ellen who is famous for pulling good-natured pranks on her guests informed Kristen that there was a sloth in the studio that day as well and the actress didn’t disappoint with the same reaction that essentially mirrored the one she had when her husband had presented it to her not too long ago.
The question of how Kristen came to develop such an interest in sloths has its answer in the fact that certain people, celebrities, in particular, have a special fondness for things that are not that common. We can’t exactly tell when her fascination for sloths began for Kristen.
Kristen Bell’s husband found it difficult to get the sloth
To better understand the magnitude of this frankly significant 31st birthday gift from the actress’ husband, we feel it is important to relay the fact that procuring a sloth for his wife was not a cakewalk for Dax Shepard due to a variety of factors that will be explained shortly.
A couple of years after the Kristen Bell sloth saga, Dax had also been welcomed as a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and one of the first and most obvious questions posed to the star of NBC’s Parenthood was how he was able to procure the animal, considering how rare they are and the various hoops one would have to jump through just to have them.
Dax began by acknowledging the premise that sloths were extremely rare and even more difficult to procure. He pointed out that despite his being aware of the fact that they were rare and hard to get, the level of difficulty he experienced was even more than he envisaged.
To begin with, he said, sloths are only available in certain countries while any company that does decide to loan them out is quite insistent on knowing the kind of insurance homeowners who have an interest in hosting or keeping one of these animals may have. Dax said that after his ordeal, he was eventually able to find someone who agreed to bring the sloth to their home.
Dax also mentioned that that deal was only possible because they had set up a sloth habitat in their living room. This likely explains why Kristen suspected she was getting a sloth for her 31st birthday.
Has Kristen Bell met more sloths?
Undoubtedly yes. With the kind of passion and fondness she has for those animals, it would be kind of weird if the Forgetting Sarah Marshall actress had no more contact with her slow darlings. She got the opportunity to meet another sloth on a segment of the Ellen Digital Network Momsplaining.
She had appeared in an early 2019 segment and this time Ellen was true to her word about having a sloth in the studio. This time though, the actress maintained her composure, and rather than have a meltdown like she did the last time she visited Ellen, she decided to be funny about the whole thing, as well as take some pictures.
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Some interesting facts about sloths
- Sloths are mammals
- They live in Central, North, and South American countries like Brazil and Peru
- Sloths are mostly herbivores
- Sloths are three times stronger than humans
- They can defecate a third of their body weight in one go
- They have a condition that makes them unable to see in bright daylight
- Sloths are faster in water than on land
- It takes them 30 days to digest a leaf
- Sloths can starve to death on a full stomach
- Sloths can fall over 100 feet without injury
- No one knows the lifespan of an average sloth
- Sloths do not make good pets