Kristen Bell got teased by a co-star, pinged a famous internet doctor, and nearly made urine a wellness trend all over again. The doctor says he told her “absolutely not,” and Bell later said the whole thing was a prank. You can’t make this up-and thankfully, no one chugged anything.
Here’s the real story: a prank snowballed, a DM got famous, and Bell kept her sense of humor intact. The rest is internet theater.
The Moment
Family medicine physician and social media fixture Dr. Mikhail Varshavski, better known as Dr. Mike, said on a newly released conversation for The Basement Yard that Kristen Bell once messaged him asking whether she should drink her own urine “for health” because a friend was doing it. On mic, he addressed her directly: “Kristen Bell, I can’t believe you really considered drinking urine.”
He added that he advised her not to, and that the setup came from a setmate’s prank of mixing drinks to look like urine. According to his retelling, Bell was convinced enough to ask him, though it wasn’t a formal medical consult.
Crucially, Bell has already told this story herself. In a September appearance on Armchair Expert with husband Dax Shepard, joined by Justine Lupe, her co-star on the Netflix series “Nobody Wants This,” Bell explained Lupe had been trolling her for weeks with faux “pee” and fake wellness chatter. Bell said the jig was up after about five weeks, long before she swallowed anything but dignity and a multivitamin.
The Take
This isn’t a scandal; it’s a case study in how wellness myths refuse to die. The second someone says, “It’s vitamin-dense,” a rumor sprouts legs and runs a marathon. Bell didn’t start a trend-she sanity-checked a bizarre claim and then outed the prank with a laugh.
Dr. Mike did what doctors should do when faced with folk cures: don’t scold, explain. Bell did what adults should do when embarrassed on set: tell the story herself first. That’s a decent two-step for life online.
And the culture bit? Urine therapy is the Bigfoot of wellness-every few years, it stomps back through the timeline, grainy evidence and all. Celebrities are human; they text a doctor when a persuasive friend gets in their ear. The lesson isn’t “stars are gullible,” it’s “peer pressure plus pseudoscience equals chaos.”
“There are a lot better ways to remineralize, like a multivitamin.” If only every wellness micro-trend ended that sensibly.
Receipts
Confirmed
- Dr. Mikhail Varshavski stated on a recorded conversation for The Basement Yard, released in early March 2026, that Kristen Bell DM’d him asking about drinking urine; he said he advised against it.
- Kristen Bell previously recounted on Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard in a September 2025 episode, joined by Justine Lupe, that Lupe pranked her on the set of Netflix’s “Nobody Wants This,” using fake urine and wellness claims; Bell said she did not drink urine and that the prank lasted several weeks.
- Bell quoted Dr. Varshavski’s guidance that there are “better ways to remineralize,” mentioning a multivitamin, during that Armchair Expert discussion.
Unverified/Context
- Bell’s team had not issued additional comment at the time of recent podcast chatter.
- Varshavski noted the message wasn’t a formal patient consultation; that framing is his description of the exchange.
Backstory (For the Casual Reader)
Kristen Bell, 45, is the actor behind Veronica Mars and the voice of Anna in Frozen. She stars alongside Justine Lupe (from Succession) and Adam Brody in the Netflix comedy “Nobody Wants This.” Dr. Mikhail “Dr. Mike” Varshavski is a board-certified family medicine physician who built a massive following by busting health myths online. Bell has said Lupe’s on-set prank involved faux “pee” props and faux wellness advice; when the joke escalated, Bell sanity-checked it with Dr. Mike, who told her not to try it. Eventually, Lupe came clean, telling the whole crew to keep Bell from actually attempting it. That’s the story-equal parts set hijinks and modern mythbusting.
Bottom line: No, drinking urine isn’t a wellness hack. Yes, even celebrities need a trusted source to cut through the noise. And if your co-star offers you something “vitamin-dense” in a sample cup? Maybe just say, “I’ll stick with water.”
What do you make of this saga-harmless prank with a good lesson attached, or a reminder that wellness fads need stronger brakes?
Primary sources cited: The Basement Yard conversation with Dr. Mikhail Varshavski (published March 2026); Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, Kristen Bell, and Justine Lupe episode (published September 2025).
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