Actress Kristen Bell sparked a firestorm this week with a tone-deaf Instagram post celebrating her husband, Dax Shepard, on their wedding anniversary.

Under a photo of herself locked in embrace with Shepard, 50, Bell wrote: 'Happy 12th wedding anniversary to the man who once said to me: "I would never kill you. A lot of men have killed their wives at a certain point. Even though I'm heavily incentivized to kill you, I never would."'

The reaction from her 15.8 million followers was swift and savage, with critics accusing Bell, 45, of making light of domestic violence.

But despite such a damaging allegation as that - and, indeed, despite the fact her hit Netflix comedy series 'Nobody Wants This', in which she stars alongside Adam Brody, returning to screens for a second series this week - Bell has kept schtum.

And anyone hoping for an apology can give up - for the Daily Mail has learned that Bell is digging in her heals.

Actress Kristen Bell sparked a firestorm this week with a tone-deaf Instagram post celebrating her husband, Dax Shepard, on their wedding anniversary

'Many would have liked her to apologize or to have taken down the post, but she hasn't and the post is still there. She doesn't want to be told how to live her life or be bullied into doing something she doesn't want to do,' an insider said, before warning: 'But eventually what comes around goes around.'

The insider added: 'In her mind, if people aren't going to laugh about it, that is their problem. She feels that there are bigger issues in the world than what she said. Given the chance to do it all over again, she would.'

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But that stubbornness is reportedly coming at a cost, with some friends taking a dim view of her obstinance.

'Many close to Kristen are happy she is getting heat over her comments because she often never sees how her words, whether she thinks she says them in jest or not, can actually hurt people,' our insider said.

'Kristen goes through her days unscathed. It seems like she treats all situations she's involved as if she's in the right at all times. She always has a "I am better than you" mentality that rubs some people the wrong way. It is not a surprise that she hasn't apologized, because she doesn't ever think she is wrong.'

As for her actor hubby, our insider says Shepard is standing firmly by his wife's sid: 'Dax is in full support on everything she chooses to do from this moment forward. He thought the post was funny. He's sticking to her like Will Smith sticks to Jada.'

Be that as it may, Bell's viral post has prompted social media sleuths to dig up old videos of the couple, including a particularly unfortunate interview from 2012 in which Bell appears to once again make light of domestic violence.

But that stubbornness is reportedly coming at a cost, with some friends taking a dim view of her obstinance (pictured with Adam Brody)

The couple - who were engaged at the time - were starring in the same film, 'Hit and Run'. In a promotional interview, Bell teased Shepard about a time that he had souped-up his car.

'He was so excited. We drove to brunch and the first thing I said, five minutes into the ride, I said, "This sounds like it's going to break",' Bell recalled.

'And I was very offended. And then I hit her several times,' Dax jokingly replied.

Bell laughed and continued the joke, adding: 'And then I got beat up. And guess what, I never opened my mouth again.'

The controversy for Bell has come as the highly anticipated new season of her Netflix show 'Nobody Wants This' was met with lukewarm reviews this week, with some critics panning it as 'boring and predictable'.

Kristen Bell's friends savagely turn on her for nasty behavior