Why Dax Shepard Didn’t Join Kristen Bell at Actor Awards 2026

His name is Dax Shepard and he is preparing for a colonoscopy.

As his wife of 12 years Kristen Bell took the stage at the Actor’s Awards as host, her husband of over a decade skipped out on the March 1 ceremony—and he shared exactly he was up to instead.

Indeed, Dax—who shares Lincoln, 11, and Delta, 9, with Kristen—shared a screenshot from a conversation reminding him to only consume liquids until his colonoscopy on March 2. His response? “I’m currently eating a stack,” he quipped back,” smothered in seeds and nuts.”

Making it explicitly clear what he is heading into, alongside the screenshot, he wrote, “#colonoscopyprep.”

And for Kristen, the third time is a charm as she returns as the host for the awards show, after previously leading the charge in 2024 and 2025. What’s more? the Veronica Mars alum has been trying her hardest to make sure that she breaks the habit of referring to the ceremony—which serves as an opportunity for the Screen Actors Guild to celebrate the best in film and television—by its old moniker.