Postpartum depression is debilitating, and some new mothers feel ashamed if they"re affected by it.
The reality is that PPD can happen to any woman who gave birth.
Thanks to these celebs, the stigma of PPD is a thing of the past.
1. Gwyneth Paltrow
Paltrow experienced PPD after having son Moses in 2006. “I expected to have another period of euphoria following his birth, much the way I had when my daughter was born two years earlier,” Paltrow wrote on GOOP. “Instead I was confronted with one of the darkest and most painfully debilitating chapters of my life.”
2. Hayden Panettiere
The Nashville star sought treatment twice for post-partum depression. “I’m really happy that I can stand up for the women who are out there suffering from this and let them know it’s okay,” Panettiere told People at the 2016 Critics Choice Awards. “They’re not alone. It doesn’t mean they’re weak. It doesn’t mean they’re a bad mom. It doesn’t mean they’re strange. They can get help if they need it, and that’s okay.”
3. Brooke Shields
Shields wrote a book on her post-partum depression, ‘Down Came The Rain: My Journey With Postpartum Depression.’ In the book, Shields talked about feeling disconnected from her infant, Rowan. “Rowan kept crying, and I began to dread the moment when Chris would bring her back to me. I started to experience a sick sensation in my stomach; it was as if a vise were tightening around my chest. Instead of the nervous anxiety that often accompanies panic, a feeling of devastation overcame me,” Shields recalled. “I also didn’t feel like I wanted to get too close to Rowan. I wasn’t afraid she was too fragile; I just felt no desire to pick her up. Every time I have ever been near a baby, any baby, I have always wanted to hold the child. It shocked me that I didn’t want to hold my own daughter.”
4. Amanda Peet
Peet told Gotham Magazine that she was “sleep-deprived beyond belief” after giving birth, and felt that everything “came crashing down” when her daughter was born. “I want to be honest about it because I think there’s still so much shame when you have mixed feelings about being a mom instead of feeling this sort of ‘bliss,’” she said. “I think a lot of people still really struggle with that, but it’s hard to find other people who are willing to talk about it.”
5. Courteney Cox
Cox’s PPD didn’t settle in until her daughter, Coco was around six months old. “I couldn’t sleep. My heart was racing. And I got really depressed,” she admitted to USA Today.
6. Marie Osmond
In her memoir, ‘Behind The Smile: My Journey Out of Postpartum Depression,’ Osmond talked about her own struggle. After giving birth to her youngest child, she had been warned by her doctor to take it easy. “I thought his advice was for somebody else. It couldn’t be for anyone as tough as me. I could handle it,” Osmond wrote. “I could have a baby and get right back to work. I could get my family moved, make business decisions, get back in shape. I could get past the ‘baby blues.’ I could do whatever needed to be done. Five minutes later, I was sitting on the kitchen floor, heaving with sobs and all I could think was, ‘This can’t be happening to me.’ This couldn’t be me, collapsing in hysteria, not even recognizing my own wails.”