AceShowbiz -

Kristen Bell reveals a secret behind her successful marriage to her husband Dax Shepard in an interview with Good Housekeeping magazine. In the interview for the magazine's May issue, the "House of Lies" actress proudly admits that they have been participating in couple's therapy since the beginning of their relationship. She further says that it helps her and her husband accept each others' point of view and negotiate disagreements.

"You do better in the gym with a trainer; you don't figure out how to cook without reading a recipe," she says of the marriage counseling. "Therapy is not something to be embarrassed about."

Shepard agrees with Bell's statement and adds that the counseling is essential to strengthen his bond with Bell. "I noticed an actor and her husband on [a recent cover of a celebrity tabloid] that said In Couples' Therapy! The clear message is, 'Oh, their marriage is ending.' There's such a negative connotation," he explains. "In my previous relationship, we went to couples therapy at the end, and that's often too late. You can't go after nine years and start figuring out what patterns you're in."

Bell and Shepard then discuss how they began the therapy very early in their relationship. "We're the Paula Abdul video 'Opposites Attract' personified," Bell explains. "I thought I had this life thing down pat when I met Dax. I didn't realize that I needed a much bigger toolbox to have confrontations and disagreements with people."

After their first meeting at a Detroit Red Wings hockey game in 2007, Bell and Shepard have been attached to each other. However, Shepard soon noticed that they had completely different dispositions. "We have such different backgrounds, it's comical," he says of their difference. "Until I was 32, I thought the world was just wolves, that there was no way anyone was acting with any kind of benevolence. When I met her and her friends, I was suspicious of their unbridled happiness. I thought, 'Something stinks here; they're in a cult.' "

Eventually, Shepard accepted Bell's sunny bearing and considered to start the therapy. "Slowly I began to see her positive way of looking at the world," he shares. "She gives people the benefit of the doubt. There were hurdles, things she didn't trust about me, things I didn't trust about her. I just kept going back to 'This person has the thing I want, and I have to figure out how we can exist peacefully.' So we started [seeing a therapist together] right away."