Dax Shepard Recounts High School Car Crash on Podcast

Actor Dax Shepard recounted a harrowing near-death experience from his high school years during a recent episode of his podcast, Armchair Expert, describing a car crash that left him momentarily at peace with the prospect of dying.

The incident occurred late at night as Shepard and an unnamed friend drove back from Toledo, Ohio, to Detroit, Michigan, on an interstate lined with pine trees. Shepard, then a teenager, had folded down the seats in the back of their Ford Probe hatchback to rest, since he needed to work early the next morning. His friend, who had set the cruise control to 85 miles per hour, assured him he was fine to drive. As Shepard began to drift off to the rhythmic hum of the road, he heard gravel striking the side of the vehicle. Looking up, he saw his friend slumped over the steering wheel. The car had veered off the pavement and was fishtailing sideways at high speed.

Shepard attempted to reach for the wheel but quickly realized the situation was beyond control. "I started to go over the wheel to grab it, and there's a moment where I knew it was just too far gone," he said on the February 9 episode, which featured guest Kaley Cuoco and co-host Monica Padman....