Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard Confront the Paps
They are certainly NOT happy.
They're not the first couple to go to head-to-head with the paparazzi, but they might be the most successful. Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard are working to stop publications from buying unauthorized images of celebrity children with the hopes that such restrictions would prevent paparazzi from swarming their families.
NBC's Access Hollywood invited the duo to sit down with the owner of a paparazzi agency and a photographer. The couple seemed to have a much harder time getting their point across, and the two parties ended up sparring on air for quite some time. The foundation of Bell and Shepard's argument? It doesn't matter if photographing children of celebrities is legal—it's unethical, and therefore shouldn't be done. Bell explained how oftentimes she's chased and surrounded by twenty camera men while she's holding her baby. "They're nasty," she said. Dax interjected, "Our child hasn't chosen to be a public figure, so why should our child have to suffer because of a career path we've chosen?"
They make a good point, and it seems that the couple thought that by appealing to the paparazzi's ethical standards, they might be successfully persuasive. Unfortunately, when the paparazzi owner and photographer present were asked if they were going to stop photographing children, they answered, "To be frank about business, no."
Bell and Shepard join the likes of Jennifer Garner and Halle Berry who have testified for California to institute a law prohibiting paparazzi from photographing their children. Last week, People magazine issued a public statement saying the publication would cease from purchasing such unathorized images.
The ultimate daily digest for women of power, purpose, and style.
Hallie has worked in beauty editorial for ten years and has been editorial director at Byrdie since 2021. Previously, she was a senior editor at Byrdie since 2016. During her time at Byrdie, she's written hundreds of high-performing stories on skincare, wellness (including fitness, diet, mental health, body image, et al) makeup, and hair. She's a regular on set, helping to source inspiration for makeup and hair looks, as well as interviewing celebrities, models, and other notable women and men in the beauty space.
Before that, Hallie ran Marie Claire's social media and wrote beauty and culture stories for the site, and helped launch Time Inc.'s digital-only beauty brand, MIMI. After college, she contributed to Time Out New York’s Shopping & Style section before landing her first beauty editor gig at Hearst's Real Beauty. Hallie's writing has also appeared in ELLE, Cosmopolitan, and InStyle. Hallie graduated with a BA in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.