"Armchair Expert" Co-Host Monica Padman on Friendship, Fame, and Coming Into Her Own

Plenty of people move to Los Angeles hoping to make it big, but Monica Padman's trajectory is truly one of a kind. She's now the co-creator and co-host of "Armchair Expert", the hugely popular podcast she launched with Dax Shepard in 2018. But before that, she worked for Shepard and his wife, Kristen Bell—as their nanny.

So, how does one go from a nanny for a couple of Hollywood stars to creating a podcast—a very lucrative podcast—with one of them? Padman opens up about her career on the latest episode of the Marie Claire podcast "Nice Talk" with editor-in-chief Nikki Ogunnaike.

A theater and public relations double major, Padman moved from Georgia to Los Angeles after college to pursue an acting career. While working and auditioning, she landed the nanny job for Shepard and Bell's children. Then, when the kids grew a little older, that job morphed into her becoming Bell's assistant. The career evolution kept going from there.

"I started taking on more, bigger roles in her life, like I would write all her stuff," Padman explains. "So, if she was doing a commercial, I would write that commercial or at least punch it up. She did a lot of speeches. I would write all of those. And I became more of a creative partner to her."

Launching Armchair Expert with Shepard was, of course, another major shift.

"When we started the show, I was doing both jobs for a while, and at some point I had to say, 'I can't do it anymore,'" Padman shares. "That was hard for so many reasons. One, I was sad to leave working with [Bell], because I loved it, and we are a great team."

The 37-year-old says that it was probably hard from Bell's perspective, too.

"Like, you have this person you work well with, and then not only do they go get another job, but they go work with your husband. It's just complicated, you know?" Padman continues. "And so, yeah, that was a little bit of a tough time." But, because Bell is "quick to adapt" and "understanding" the situation "was made much, much easier."

Being a nanny, assistant, creative partner, and podcast co-host is already a lot of roles to cycle through in one relationship—but Monica Padman is also close friends with Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard, which adds another layer of complexity to working on Armchair Expert.

"Dax and I have had all kinds of hiccups and figuring out the dynamic," she tells "Nice Talk". "It's very, very complicated, because we're best friends. We are in a big friendship group, like, our lives are so enmeshed. And so when we have an issue, either personally or professionally, it is so easy for it to all blend together, and that has taken a lot of work and a lot of active responsibility ... I say to myself, 'Do not bring this in. Do not talk to this person about this. Like, this is separate.'"

Despite having built a thriving career alongside her friends, Padman doesn’t necessarily recommend it.

"It's pretty hypocritical, because I love working with my friends, and yet I tell most people don't do it," she says. "Definitely Dax and Kristen are very evolved people. I think I've grown a lot having been in their proximity. I don't think it's for everyone."

For more from Padman—including how she learned to open up on Armchair Expert, her favorite episode, and her love of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen—check out this week's installment of "Nice Talk". The episode is available everywhere you listen to podcasts.