What Cheryl Hines and Kristen Bell Unfortunately Have In Common

By Chris Revelle | Celebrity | September 26, 2023 |

By Chris Revelle | Celebrity | September 26, 2023 |

We cannot know what lives in another person’s heart or mind, and that can be a tricky thing to contend with when you’re writing about public figures like celebrities. As with Jonah Hill, Guy Fieri, Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, and Iggy Azalea, instead of trying to read their minds, we can read their actions and how they choose to comport themselves in public or how they choose to use their power and platform. This brings us to Cheryl Hinds and Kristen Bell, two celebrities who don’t have much in common aside from hair color and a career in comedy. Or do they?

In light of Dax Shepard’s braindead “just asking questions” behavior in which he told famous non-binary person Jonathan Van Ness that transphobes have a point, we can see a new similarity between Bell and Hinds: they both remain coupled with men who have publicly opposed the queer community. Bell’s spouse, Shepard, wanly apologized to Van Ness for telling them that the people who wish them and others like them dead are just asking reasonable questions, but those apologies don’t read as much more than damage control. He seemed more upset he caused his guest to cry than he was upset he was parroting classic FART talking points.

As someone who’s always felt Shepard has the same insincere youth pastor energy as his fellow transphobe Zachary Levi, I feel they can join Jordan Peterson, Andrew Tate, and Joe Rogan on the manosphere slag heap. The same can be said of Hines’ spouse, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who is running for President as a Democrat despite having jumped (head-first and with ardent glee) into Q-adjacent conspiracy theorism and HIV/AIDs denial. According to RFK Jr., HIV doesn’t cause AIDs, but instead, all the people who died of the disease did so because of the “gay lifestyle” and huffed too many poppers. HIV/AIDs can affect anyone of any sexuality or gender identity, but sure, RFK Jr, just blame it on the queers. He also believes that trans people are sick and addled by chemical exposures in our environment, an effective way to dehumanize and alienate other human beings just for their gender identity.

Comparing Shepard and RFK Jr., it’s important to realize that only one is running for office and therefore could be considered a more “real” threat, but I’m not so sure. RFK Jr. is not a serious candidate, and it seems more likely his “campaign” is just one long audition to be a talking head on NewsMax. Neither RFK Jr nor Shepard could be considered “threats” in terms of direct action they’re able to take against the queer people they think so little of, but they both have large platforms and large audiences. They both used their platforms to broadcast hateful rhetoric and continue its normalization. Shepard apparently thinks so low of the queer community that he seemed surprised when his transphobia was upsetting. I’m sure his sheltered existence as a rich white man in a society built to service rich white men is a contributor, but he apparently operates with such contempt as to invite the famously queer Van Ness on to then berate them with transphobia. For the act of continuing to spread more poisonous bigotry in our country, both men are most certainly guilty.

So what does all this have to do with Cheryl Hines and Kristen Bell? As I said before, we cannot know their hearts or minds, but we do know their actions. Hines has mainly tried to avoid talking about her husband, either trying to suggest she doesn’t necessarily share his views or by bringing up their daughter’s new skincare line. As for Bell, her husband’s foolishness is still fresh, so her response remains to be seen. Whatever her eventual comment may be, and taking Hines’ silence into account, there is one conclusion we can reach: neither of those people are allies to the LGBTQ+ community.

There’s an old adage I’d like to share: if your spouse is a homophobe, you cannot be an ally. This isn’t to say Hines nor Bell share their husbands’ bigoted and wrong beliefs; we have no idea if they do. What we can observe is that bigotry is not enough of a problem for them to do something about it. How much support can someone offer if they share intimacy with someone who would oppress others? Think too of how many people consider allyship to be a passive thing, that all that is required of them is to believe silently in the equality of queer people. True allyship is active, and it requires a much more holistic approach. Someone cannot be an ally if they hold space around you for bigots. If they believe that everyone should treat queer people with the equity they deserve except for the person they share a bed with, they are no ally. As long as they overlook someone’s bigotry against the LGBTQ+ community, whatever reasons they may have, they are no ally.

Dax Shepard, RFK Jr., and all their lil troglodytes are bigots; that much is clear. We know that from their public words and actions. Kristen Bell and Cheryl Hines choose each and every day to continue associating with the bigots they married. Maybe they’ll surprise us all and denounce their husbands and work to undo their harm, who knows? None of this means they agree with their husbands, but it does mean they’re not allies to the queer community.