'It’s very offensive to her': Dax Shepard slams claims he's 'abusive' to wife Kristen Bell

Dax Shepard is fighting back against "offensive" suggestions that he's "controlling" and "abusive"' to his wife Kristen Bell.

The 51-year-old comedian/actor has addressed speculation over his relationship with the Nobody Wants This star and insisted he finds the false accusations which have painted him as a "terrible person" to be "deeply insulting".

Dax opened up about the issues in an episode of his Armchair Expert podcast, saying: "Another round of me being a terrible person was in the media, and I avoided that. But then it hit Kristen's doorstep really hard, and then I got to find out everything that people are saying about me.

"[The] weird narrative that is surrounding me as like controlling, abusive, now flirting with people in public, which I don’t do … It’s so frustrating ...

"I don’t ever yell at my children. I don’t yell at my wife. To have given it my all to be the opposite of what now some group of people is saying I am, it’s hard."

He went on to insist he finds the claims to be "deeply insulting" his wife, adding: "She’s what, she’s sitting in a house with her two daughters and modelling some abusive relationship? Like, it’s very offensive to her."

It comes two weeks after Kristen appeared on the podcast and seemingly suggested her husband flirted with other women in front of her - and Dax declared her comments were misunderstood.

He said: "I think she phrased it in a way that got easily confused for people. Because we’re saying, I flirt with Kristen by tipping people a lot. And I flirt with Kristen by complimenting people.

"If you think I’m complimenting like hot young waitresses, yeah, you got a problem. I’m finding the dude that I don’t think’s had a compliment in a while and tell him I love his shows. It’s always somebody that I want to make their day."