Dive deep into the complexities of human relationships and personal growth in "This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von," featuring a candid discussion between hosts Theo Von and guest speaker Dax Shepard. In an intimate exchange, they delve into the intricacies of fidelity, the difficulties of maintaining monogamous relationships, and the impact of past behaviors on their present selves. Listeners will appreciate the honesty with which Shepard confesses his history of infidelity and Von addresses his struggles with commitment, depicting the emotional weight of such personal insights.
The episode further offers a poignant look at the duo's respective childhood experiences in Michigan, capturing heartfelt narratives of working-class hardships, family instabilities, and the challenges of growing up amidst domestic chaos. Additionally, Von and Shepard unveil their journeys towards sobriety and reflect on the transformations they've undergone in confronting addiction. As they confront their mental health struggles with vulnerability, audiences can expect a raw and unfiltered exploration of the silent battles many face, delivering a reflective analysis of the trials and resilience in overcoming life's hurdles.
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Dax Shepard and Theo Von explore their struggles with fidelity and their views on monogamy. Shepard admits to past infidelities and his current efforts to stay loyal, while Von shares his trouble with commitment and the resulting guilt he feels towards his partners. Shepard reflects on his expectation for constant attention in a relationship and recognizes his past enjoyment of attention from multiple women. Meanwhile, Von shares his unease with intimacy and his tendency to avoid defining relationships, linking it possibly to his relationship with his mother.
Dax Shepard and Theo Von recount their upbringings in Michigan, marked by working-class struggles and family instability. They reminisce about their modest roots, with Dax recalling the juxtaposition of his working-class neighborhood against affluent areas, and Theo mentioning his father's drinking. They both open up about domestic chaos, with Shepard discussing his troubled childhood involving substance abuse and hardship, while Von reveals the financial and emotional constraints he faced.
Discussing addiction recovery, Dax Shepard and Theo Von share the steps they've taken towards sobriety. Shepard talks about his involvement in AA and the behavioral changes that come with prolonged sobriety, like making amends. Von reflects on his inability to understand affection prior to recovery and continues to seek validation, a potential vestige of past addictive behaviors. They both emphasize the sense of community and mutual understanding they find in meetings and connections with others in recovery.
Both Shepard and Von touch upon their mental health struggles without directly naming conditions like anxiety, PTSD, or depression. They share moments that imply emotional and mental difficulties, like Shepard's experiences with crying and discussions of childhood trauma, and Von's desire to escape a stagnant mental state. Their conversation also hints at the emotional fallout of stopping medications, suggesting a background of coping with mental health challenges through pharmaceutical means.
1-Page Summary
Dax Shepard and Theo Von discuss their perspectives and personal challenges with fidelity, commitment, and the expectations within relationships.
Dax Shepard openly acknowledges his struggles with the idea of being faithful, reflecting on his past behavior and expectations within his current relationship. He admits to having had unrealistic expectations from his partner, Kristen Bell, to constantly dote on him and provide attention. Shepard sees his choice not to engage in infidelity as a trade-off for the attention he receives in his relationship. Reflecting on his past, Shepard also mentions a time when he was enjoying attention from multiple women on MySpace, indicating a period in his life when he might not have been committed to monogamous relationships, especially during his more sober periods.
Theo Von confesses to his own issues with fidelity and commitment. He shares an anecdote about hooking up with one woman while out with another woman and her friends, later realizing he needed to make amends for such actions. Von also admits to struggling with confidence during intimate moments and often verbally reassured his partners to convince them and himself of the encounter's quality.
Von speaks to his nervousness about sex and ...
Relationships, infidelity, monogamy
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Dax Shepard and Theo Von delve into their personal histories, sharing stories from their upbringing in small towns in Michigan—a reality marked by financial struggle, domestic instability, and challenging family dynamics.
Both Dax and Theo grow up in Michigan, albeit in distinctly modest, working-class settings. Dax describes his hometown as the last suburb out of Detroit before the landscape turns rural with cornfields and farms, where children would arrive at school with boots covered in manure, indicating a starkly blue-collar environment. He reflects on his experience of passing by affluent houses on a lake, aware of his family's lack of means to afford such a lifestyle.
Theo touches on elements of family dysfunction, hinting at the effects of divorced parents when he refers to his father parking in the ditch—suggesting a household accustomed to irregularities and disrupted routines.
Both men's childhoods are marred by exposure to various forms of instability and abuse. By the age of nine, Dax is already living with his third stepfather and experiencing molestation, signaling an unsafe and tumultuous home life. He also speaks candidly about his father buying him gifts while under the influence of alcohol, revealing struggles with substance abuse within the family.
On the other side, Theo recounts his father's habitual drinking, often culminating in him parking his Thunderbird in a ditch outside th ...
Dax and Theo's backgrounds and upbringing
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Dax Shepard and Theo Von discuss their individual struggles with addiction and the experiences they've encountered on their paths towards recovery, highlighting how it has impacted their lives and the community they've found in sobriety.
The paths into addiction for both Dax Shepard and Theo Von began at different points in their lives. Von started engaging with substances around the time he left home at 14 when he lived in his friend's house and had his own room for the first time. He hints at using substances but indicates a dislike for heavy drinking or drug use. Shepard subtly alludes to his past addiction, comparing his impatience in a present scenario to the impatience he felt while waiting for drugs from his dealer, though details of their journeys into addiction are not expansively discussed.
Both Dax Shepard and Theo Von affirm that they are currently in recovery. Shepard mentions his involvement in the process of working the steps in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), which includes making amends and reflecting on past behaviors, while acknowledging the behavioral changes that come with prolonged sobriety. He recalls outreach to Von upon hearing about his 18 months of sobriety, illustrating the sense of community within the recovery process.
Von talks about not being able to understand how to give or receive affection until he entered recovery where he began to reflect on his life. He also discusses his continued need for validation, hinting at its possible relation to his previous addictive behaviors.
Within the recovery process, both individuals find a deeper connection with those who share their struggle. Von feels at ease around other people in recovery, sensing immediate ...
Addiction, recovery and sobriety
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Dax Shepard and Theo Von have candidly discussed topics related to their emotional and mental health. Despite a lack of direct mentions of specific mental health conditions such as anxiety, PTSD, or depression, their conversations hint at underlying struggles that resemble these difficulties.
One poignant recollection shared involved not crying for 30 years and then being unable to make it through a day without tears, which reflects deep emotional turmoil and alludes to mental health challenges. Moreover, Shepard reflected on a conversation with his daughter about divorce and his own childhood trauma, suggesting he may be grappling with PTSD or anxiety rooted in his past.
Theo Von expressed his aspiration to escape a stagnant mental state, indicating a desire for change that could be coming from a place of dealing with mental health issues, even if not explicitly classified as anxiety, PTSD, or depression.
Mental Health Struggles
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