Actor Dax Shepard has claimed he is experiencing a “new fear” of going broke due to the ongoing Hollywood strikes, saying his existential dread includes the possibility of “[losing] everything.”
Dax Shepard engaged in an emotional outpouring in Monday’s episode of his “Armchair Expert” podcast.
“I am currently in a two-month spiral of just completely out-of-hand financial insecurity,” Shephard said. “This new fear of I’m gong to somehow be broke or I’m going to lose everything, podcasting is somehow going to be over, and there’s an actors’ strike and I’m not going to act.”
Shepard said his fears around money derive from his upbringing. “It’s not related to reality, it’s from growing up poor,” he said. “You can’t shake it.”
If Shepard was once poor, he certainly doesn’t qualify anymore.
Shepard and his wife, Frozen actress Kristen Bell, have an estimated combined net worth of $40 million and live in the trendy Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles.
Hollywood actors walked off the job last month, joining striking writers in a demand for better pay in an age where streaming entertainment has taken over the industry. Actors are claiming that studios and streamers frequently stiff them when it comes to streaming compensation in a bald-faced attempt to hoard money for their executives.
Actress Kristen Bell’s Baby Brand ‘Hello Bello’ Will Pay for Employee’s Abortions... pic.twitter.com/gSFeU8JVDm
— CaptMike (@getcloserhome) July 11, 2022
But the strikes have so far failed to generate much public interest, with a recent poll showing that the majority of Americans either don’t care or feel ambivalent about the situation. This has deprived striking talent of the leverage they need to force studios to make concessions.
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