Kristen Bell has spent more than a decade shielding her daughters from the spotlight, but on March 28 she made an exception. To celebrate her eldest child, Lincoln, becoming a teenager, the actress pulled back the curtain just enough to let fans see the tiny moments that have defined the last 13 years of parenthood.<\/p>\n
\u201c13 years ago today we had our first baby girl \u2764\ufe0f,\u201d Bell, 45, began in an Instagram Reel that quickly climbed past a million likes. The caption accompanied a montage of grainy hospital snapshots, muddy camping trips, backyard cartwheels and one particularly chaotic scene of Lincoln and younger sister Delta, 11, ambushing dad Dax Shepard at the front door while wearing glitter-soaked party hats.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting to know her wit, compassion, and sense of adventure has brought us a kind of joy we didn\u2019t have a word for before we met her,\u201d Bell wrote. \u201cShe reminds us every day that family is literally the best of it\u2014the real stuff. (And also to never underestimate how good it feels to hold someone\u2019s hand).\u201d<\/p>\n
Shepard, 51, kept his reply simple: five crying-face emojis that summed up the emotion of watching a child edge closer to adulthood.<\/p>\n
Long-time followers of The Good Place<\/em> star know that photos of Lincoln and Delta are rarer than a Hollywood sequel that outshines the original. Bell and Shepard have spoken openly about wanting their daughters to choose publicity for themselves\u2014if they ever want it at all.<\/p>\n In a 2020 episode of Shepard\u2019s podcast Armchair Expert<\/em>, Bell explained the boundary: \u201cWe don\u2019t show their faces because we believe privacy is the only currency they have left.\u201d The policy extends to press interviews; the girls are referred to by first name only and never join red-carpet events.<\/p>\n Still, the couple occasionally bends the rule for milestone moments: Lincoln\u2019s first day of kindergarten, Delta learning to ride a bike, and now the official entry into teen territory. Each post is carefully curated\u2014backs of heads, silhouettes against a sunset, or extreme close-ups of frosting-covered fingers\u2014so that the memory is preserved without exposing identity.<\/p>\n Scroll past the confetti and you\u2019ll spot three big themes that Bell returns to again and again in interviews:<\/p>\n Those values echo in the birthday post\u2019s closing line: \u201cGetting to love this kid is the greatest job on earth.\u201d<\/p>\n During a 2023 appearance on The View<\/em>, Bell joked that parenting a tween is \u201clike living with a lawyer who questions every single household clause.\u201d Shepard, meanwhile, told People<\/em> that Lincoln already displays the family trademark sarcasm: \u201cShe\u2019ll roll her eyes so hard I can practically hear them hit the ceiling.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the sass, both parents insist the pre-teen phase has been unexpectedly tender. Bell credits open-ended dinner questions\u2014\u201dWhat was your most embarrassing moment today?\u201d\u2014for keeping communication fluid. Shepard\u2019s tool of choice is the shared Spotify playlist; swapping music has become their nightly ritual.<\/p>\n And yes, the actor has already offered to pay for egg freezing when the girls are older, a quip that made headlines last year but was delivered, he says, as a tongue-in-cheek reminder that reproductive autonomy matters.<\/p>\n Within minutes of the upload, celebrity friends flooded the comments. Reese Witherspoon wrote, \u201cHappy birthday, sweet Lincoln! Where did the time go?\u201d Sophia Bush added, \u201cThis is beautiful, KB. Parenthood looks good on you.\u201d<\/p>\n Non-famous followers were equally effusive. A top comment that garnered 14,000 likes reads: \u201cThank you for showing us the backs of their heads. As a mom I get it, and as a fan I appreciate the peek inside.\u201d Another parent wrote, \u201cMy son turns 13 next month\u2014feeling all the feels with you.\u201d<\/p>\n Bell and Shepard have not revealed Lincoln\u2019s specific birthday plans, though paparazzi spotted balloons from the popular party shop Balloon and Paper entering the family\u2019s Los Feliz home. Sources close to the couple tell InfluencersWiki<\/em> that the celebration<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kristen Bell has spent more than a decade shielding her daughters from the spotlight, but on March 28 she made an exception. To celebrate her eldest child, Lincoln, becoming a teenager, the actress pulled back the curtain just enough to let fans see the tiny moments that have defined the last 13…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/influencerswiki.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/influencerswiki.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/influencerswiki.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/influencerswiki.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/influencerswiki.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/influencerswiki.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/influencerswiki.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/influencerswiki.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/influencerswiki.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/influencerswiki.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What the Reel Teaches Us About Bell\u2019s Parenting Philosophy<\/h2>\n
\n
Life at 13: What Bell and Shepard Have Said About the Tween Years<\/h2>\n
How Fans and Fellow Parents Reacted<\/h2>\n
What\u2019s Next for the Birthday Girl<\/h2>\n