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He bemoaned the perils of dating while famous and avoided any mention of the allegations against him.
By Alexandra Blogier — Written on May 09, 2023
Nicholas Braun was the featured guest on Dax Shepard’s podcast Armchair Expert on May 8, 2023. The 34-year-old actor has recently come under fire for allegations of sexual misconduct from many different women, yet his appearance in the interview didn’t clear up any questions about untoward behavior.
During the interview, Shepard raised the question of Braun’s dating life.
Shepard then asked if Braun had a girlfriend in high school, to which Braun answered that he had a girlfriend during his junior year of high school. “We broke up for summer, I went and made this movie Sky High, a Disney movie… I missed the first two months of school, filming that movie. And I came back and my best friend had started dating her. And so, that one went out the window.”
Nicholas Braun confirmed that he is in a relationship but, amid growing allegations, avoided discussing dating in depth.
While skirting around Shepard's questions about his dating life, Braun let slip that he is in a relationship but not before expressing serious discomfort when asked about dating. His hesitancy is perhaps linked to allegations that he has coerced women and minors into having sexual relations.
“Did it change you, that experience? Did it make you hate women or friends?” Shepard asked jokingly about Braun's high school romance.
“I’m a really jealous person, romantically,” Braun stated. “And so yeah, that did hurt, even though I think I had broken up with her, going into summer, so when I saw them together, canoodling in the student union, and her sitting on his lap, them kissing, all that stuff was brutal.”
Braun then excused himself to go to the bathroom. When he returned, Shepard said, “I know why you peed when you did. Because we’re talking about romance, and you’re getting nervous.”
The conversation soon turned to anonymous claims made on the celebrity watchdog Instagram account DeuxMoi. Braun is regularly featured on the account and, as a result, has cultivated a reputation as a ladies' man.
“He was with a girl, or he was making out with somebody,” Braun said, pretending to quote Deux Moi. “I'm a part owner in this bar called Ray’s in real life, so that was the first bar I was invested in, and so I would go there a pretty good amount. That was in July of 2019 so that was kind of as things were taking off with the show. Yeah, I guess it was a place that I frequented and they knew I could be there.”
Braun was hesitate to elaborate, explaining “I’ve seen it so many times, where you say a thing, and then it gets snatched up and thrown into the internet, Twitter culture, and TikTok videos, you know, people who go to Ray’s to find me put up TikToks and stuff. So, it is nice, when I’m like, ‘Well okay, that girl’s looking at me, or that girl’s looking at me, or that girl, you know, gives me her number. But I trust almost no stranger girl that I meet.”
“In 2019, I was sort of like, ‘cool, this is fun, we can hook up, or we can date, it can be the common route of dating or just hooking up,’ Braun said. “And yeah, Deux Moi would see me, and things like that, but I didn’t really care that much. It’s not shameful for me to be with a girl as a single man.”
Shepard then took the conversation to an interesting place, stating, “We’re in this weird bent right now, which would be like, being sexual is somehow predatorial, and I f—g hate that.” Shepard continued, “In exploring all these different power dynamics that needed to be explored, it did put a whole haze over anyone just f—g, which is a lovely activity.”
Shepard and Braun appeared to ward off any accusations that Braun has acted in a predatory way before Padman cut in, saying, “Yeah, I mean if there’s objectively nothing wrong, it’s not like someone’s not consenting.”
Only some of the allegations against Braun are just that—that he sought out minors in non-consensual situations.
Braun then spoke on the #MeToo movement.
“Definitely, bad situations out there,” Braun stated after Shepard attempted to defend workplace relationships between bosses and subordinates.
“But, we go to work, most of us, for 50 hours, 60 hours, 70 hours, on a set it’s 14-hour days, 15-hour days sometimes. Really hard conditions, but you’re getting to bond with people, to see them do the thing they love… having a relationship with someone you meet at work makes total sense. Not everybody’s at the same level.”
“It’s nuanced,” Padman exclaimed. “I think yes, all this can happen and it totally makes sense, but the problem is, when the superior when they fall out of love, or if the subordinate breaks up, or does something, quote, ‘wrong,’ that can then affect their career because the other person has full control and full power."
“I’m so scared of this conversation,” Braun said later. He offered his experience of dating by explaining, “When some person from the world, not a celebrity, has an experience and has had an experience with me, they talk about it,” Braun stated. “And then, it’s their story. And it’s not something that they’re going to keep secret… when they have hooked up with a celebrity, it’s a great story for them to share with all.”
Braun stopped there, claiming he had moved on from this period of his life — though the allegations have only just now caught up to him.
“By the way, I’m in a relationship now,” he clarified. “I moved on from this chapter of my life, and hopefully for a long time because we have a very good thing.”
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers celebrity gossip, pop culture analysis and all things to do with the entertainment industry.