Like most parents, Kristen Bell is making her way through the coronavirus quarantine one day at a time.
Thankfully, the actress has a bit of help managing the daily activities and home-schooling needs of her daughters, Lincoln, 7, and Delta, 5. But, the 39-year-old says that wasn't always the case.
In an Amazon Live interview promoting her new children's book, "The World Needs More Purple People," which comes out June 2, Bell said at the start of the pandemic, her husband, Dax Shepard, was out of town filming when the pandemic started, making it a challenge for him to figure out where to pitch in during daily distance learning with their girls when he arrived back home.
"I had already thought I had a handle on the world of home-schooling, on what was happening at home, on the precautions we needed to take," said Bell. "And I didn't. I was very overwhelmed and when he got home, we fought a lot to be honest. We fought quite a bit."
After those initial arguments, Bell says she found a "new normal" with Shepard, one that's all about dividing and conquering.
"After we got into a couple of intense discussions, he basically said 'You can ask me for help! How can I help you?'," said Bell. "Since then he's actually made it his mission because he knows that it calms me ... I can do math up down and sideways, but writing is a little harder because the kids like to talk me out of it. So he took over the writing."
Bell says the exchange made her feelings for Shepard stronger than ever.
"I think what made me fall deeper in love with him was the fact that he was there as a father and as a partner when I was overwhelmed," she said. "It created this deeper current of love for him. It wasn't that he saved me, it was that he stepped right into where I needed him to be as a father and a husband."
"Homeschool's sexy," Bell joked. "Getting your kid up in the morning when all they want to do is watch TV and they know the world is closed and you have to make them sit down after they brush their teeth and figure out when they need breaks to shake their sillies out. It's a pretty sexy process."
Bell says managing home-schooling and work has been also been made easier by having Shepard's younger sister quarantine with them and help with their daughters when they both have work responsibilities.
"Purple people have a support system," joked Bell. "It's been OK — we kind of switch off ... we alternate who uses the attic (for work) and the other person, along with the help of our little sister, helps with home-schooling."
"It's definitely a balance," she added. "It's not that different from real life where you're going to work and then also spending time with your kids and sort of having that push-and-pull of 'I'm a parent and I'm also a career person.'"
"The World Needs More Purple People," a book about finding similarities and connecting with others though kind acts, is Bell's first children's book, co-written with family friend and marketing specialist Benjamin Hart.
