Dax Shepard is detailing a near-death experience that shook him to his core.
During the latest episode of his Armchair Expert podcast, Dax recalled the incident to co-host Monica Padman, 38, and guest Kaley Cuoco, 40.
While discussing guest Cuoco’s passion for the true crime genre, he asked the Vanished star if she’d ever had a near death experience.
“No. Is it weird that I kinda wish I did? I want one,” the Big Bang Theory actress responded, adding, “Because I wanna see what these people are … what are they seeing?”
In response, the host shared an incident from when he was in the 12th grade in high school.
Shepard said, “I don’t know what the definition is. But, I have had the moment, which is among the most unique feelings I’ve ever had in my life, where I went, ‘Oh, I’m about to die. I’m like seconds away from dying.’ ”
“I was in the back seat of a car. Like I had folded the seats down in the back of a Ford Probe, in like a hatchback, and my friend was driving. We were coming back from Toledo, back up to Detroit,” he recalled.
“It was like late at night, and I had to work super early in the morning. So I go, ‘Hey, I’m gonna sleep in the back. Are you good to drive?’ [He said] ‘Yeah, I’m totally fine.’ He had the cruise control on 85, and I’m like back there, I’m listening, and the road was really rhythmic,’ ” he added.
“Just at that moment, I was like, ‘Oh, that rhythm’s nice. I’m gonna fall asleep.’ And then I just heard gravel hitting the side of the car. And I immediately looked up and he was completely slumped over,” Shepard recalled.
It took him a moment to realize that the car had “gone off the road” and had been “going 85” before the vehicle “started to go sideways.”
“It’s just pine trees lining that interstate in Michigan. And I started to go … to grab the wheel and there was a moment I just knew it was too far gone. Like we had gone completely sideways. I laid back down and then … we just launched in the air and we started rolling right down the highway,” Shepard shared.
“I’m like, ‘We’re gonna hit a tree and that’s gonna be that,” he shared.
The CHiPs star confessed that he felt strangely relaxed when he thought he was about to die.
“And I definitely had this moment where I was like, ‘Oh, wow, I’m gonna die in a second.’ And the feeling was shockingly comforting. Like, that I remember,” he said.
Shepard said he “went from complete fear, ‘S–t, the car’s out of control. Oh my God, we’re gonna roll. F–k. We’re rolling,'” to ultimately feeling “very calm.”
Since the accident, the comedian hasn’t been able to sleep in a car and doesn’t let others ake a turn driving.
