5 Celebs Who Opened Up About Their Battle With Postpartum Depression
"I felt like I'd made the worst decision of my life." - Adele
11 July 2017
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The birth of a baby brings with it a lot of joy, excitement, positivity and happiness. But it can also bring something one does not particularly expect - depression.
Postpartum depression(PPD) is a type of clinical depression which can affect both sexes after childbirth. Symptoms may include sadness, not wanting to bond with your baby, low energy, changes in sleeping and eating patterns, reduced desire for sex, crying episodes, anxiety, and irritability.
As many as 19% of new mums suffer from postpartum depression, and celebrities are no different. Here are 5 brave celebrities who opened up about their experience with PPD.
1. Adele
In 2016, three years after giving birth to her son Angelo with husband Simon Konecki, the singer told Vanity Fair, "I had really bad postpartum depression after I had my son, and it frightened me. My knowledge of postpartum — or post-natal, as we call it in England — is that you don't want to be with your child; you're worried you might hurt your child; you're worried you weren't doing a good job. But I was obsessed with my child. I felt very inadequate; I felt like I'd made the worst decision of my life."
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2. Chrissy Teigen
Chrissy poured her heart out about her battle with postpartum depression in Vanity Fair's April 2017 issue, "I couldn’t figure out why I was so unhappy. I blamed it on being tired and possibly growing out of the role: “Maybe I’m just not a goofy person anymore. Maybe I’m just supposed to be a mom.
When I wasn’t in the studio, I never left the house. I mean, never. Not even a tiptoe outside. I’d ask people who came inside why they were wet. Was it raining? How would I know—I had every shade closed. Most days were spent on the exact same spot on the couch and rarely would I muster up the energy to make it upstairs for bed. John would sleep on the couch with me, sometimes four nights in a row. I started keeping robes and comfy clothes in the pantry so I wouldn’t have to go upstairs when John went to work. There was a lot of spontaneous crying."
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3. Courtney Cox
In an interview with USA Today. the F.R.I.E.N.D.S. star revealed, "I went through a really hard time—not right after the baby, but when [Coco] turned 6 months. I couldn't sleep. My heart was racing. And I got really depressed. I went to the doctor and found out my hormones had been pummeled."
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4. Gwyneth Paltrow
After Paltrow gave birth to son Moses in 2006, she told Vogue U.K,"At my lowest, I was a robot. I just didn't feel anything. I had no maternal instincts for him—it was awful. I couldn't connect, and still, when I look at pictures of him at three months old, I don't remember that time."
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5. Brooke Shields
In her 2005 book Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression, Brooke talked about her postpartum depression in-depth, "It was devastating to my whole family," she said in an interview with ABC. "I had gone through numerous attempts to have a baby and when I did finally have this perfect, beautiful, healthy baby and it all but destroyed me. I couldn’t hold the baby, I couldn’t do anything for the baby, I couldn’t look at the baby."
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