The actor and podcaster explained the incident happened when he and his friend were driving back to Detroit in high school.

Dax Shepard details harrowing near-death experience: ‘Am I dead?’

The actor and podcaster explained the incident happened when he and his friend were driving back to Detroit in high school.

By Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2022. Her work has previously appeared on MTV News, Teen Vogue, and *NME*.

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February 10, 2026 1:59 p.m. ET

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Dax Shepard in 2025. Credit:

JB Lacroix/Getty

Dax Shepard is looking back at a terrifying near-death experience he had in high school that left him questioning whether or not he was still alive. **

The actor, 51, recalled the incident during a conversation with *Big Bang Theory *alum Kaley Cuoco on a recent episode of his *Armchair Expert *podcast. * ***

“I don’t know what the definition is,” Shepard began, “but I have had the moment — which is among the most unique feelings I’ve ever had in my entire life — where I went, ‘Oh, I’m about to die. I’m like, seconds away from dying.’”

Dax Shepard at the Natural Products Expo West 2025 on March 5, 2025 in Anaheim, Calif.

JB Lacroix/Getty

He explained that the incident occurred while he was resting in the backseat of a car.

“My friend was driving and we were coming back from Toledo back up to Detroit,” he said. “It was late at night and I had to work super early in the morning, so I go, ‘Hey, I’m gonna sleep in the back. Are you good to drive?’”

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After his friend agreed, Shepard started getting ready to sleep. “I was just at that moment where I was like, ‘Oh, that rhythm’s [of the road] really nice, I’m gonna fall asleep,’” he recalled. “And I just heard gravel hitting the side of the car.” **

It was then that Shepard looked up and noticed that his friend was “completely slumped over” behind the wheel. **

“We had gone off the road and we’re going 85 and the card started to go sideways,” he said. “It’s just pine trees lining that interstate in Michigan, and I started to go over the wheel to grab [it], and there’s a moment where I knew it was just too far gone.” **

So Shepard chose a different survival tactic. “I laid back down and we just launched in the air and we started rolling down the highway,” he remarked. “And, as this was happening, I’m waiting to just hit a tree. I’m like, ‘We’re gonna hit a tree and that’s going to be that.’ And I definitely had this moment where I was like, ‘Oh, wow, I’m going to die in a second.’”

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The feeling was “shockingly comforting,” he said. “Like, that I remember. I went from like, complete fear, ‘S---, the car’s out of control. Oh my god, we’re gonna roll. F---, we’re rolling. Oh right, we’re gonna roll into a tree. I’m gonna die.’ Like, all that calculus,” he continued. “And then I just went, ‘Oh.’ And I got very calm.”

Shepard explained that he fully believes that his brain released a chemical that helped calm him down during the frightening situation. “I was kind of weirdly at total peace with it,” he added. “And then we just rolled 10 times. Ended up upside down. We did not hit a tree. The car was flat. We crawled out the windows. The whole nine yards.”**

Shepard also confirmed that he and his friend weren’t injured, adding, “He was okay, and I was okay.”**

Still, he noted that he’s interested in speaking to other people who have experienced a near-death incident because “the trippiest part" was the three days afterward. **

“Because I already went, ‘Oh, I’m dead.’ And I accepted it, for the next three days I’d just be places and I felt very peculiar,” he said. “Like, am I dead? I know I died, am I dead? That was the weirdest part of the whole thing.” **

Shepard added that he’s never been able to fall asleep in a car ever since the accident. “I can never let the other person take a turn driving,” he said. “That’s off the table…. There’s no way I could sleep with someone else driving.” **

Listen to Shepard describe the incident in the clip above.

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