10 celebrity Moms versus Postpartum Depression

Have you been affected by postpartum depression? Well, the first thing you need to know is that you're not alone. Having a baby should be a very happy time right? That is not the case for all women. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, it is estimated that 1 in 9 women struggle with postpartum depression in the US.

If you just had a baby and have experienced anger and anxiety, withdrawal from your loved ones, and an inability to bond with your child, you should seek help or talk about it, because you could be experiencing postpartum depression.

Recently this issue has been addressed by a number of celebrity moms, and they have spoken out about their struggles and how they got better. So we'd like to share some of their stories and hope that maybe one of them will encourage you to talk about it too, so you can start to feel better.

Brook experience postpartum depression after her first daughter was born in 2003. She wrote it all down in her book Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression. In this book, she tells her story, the struggles and how she got better. 

When the first symptoms appear she thought she was just exhausted, but then she realized that it was something more "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."

Once acknowledged, she sought help with therapy, she took medication and relied on family and friends, until she got better, The one thing that helped a lot, she said, was breastfeeding, It turns out that what she needed was the connection with her baby girl.

A "zombie" that "couldn't access my heart", that is how actress Gwyneth Paltrow described her postpartum depression. Are you feeling something like that? Gwyneth talked about it on her website and was very open about how she felt.

She experienced postpartum depression after her son was born in 2006. She expected to have the same euphoria she felt when her daughter Apple was born, but she soon discovered that that wasn't the case. "Instead I was confronted with one of the darkest and most painfully debilitating chapters of my life."

She told in an interview with Good Housekeeping, that she finally recognized she need help when her ex-husband Cris Martin insisted that "something was wrong", She had a hard time acknowledging she had a problem, but once she did, she sought help and got better with therapy and exercise.

Hayden Panettiere talked about her postpartum depression for the first time on a television show (Live! with Kelly and Michael). Since then she has been very opened about her struggles.

She experienced the symptoms after the birth of her daughter in 2014. One of the things she has talked about is how misunderstood the condition is. "It's something a lot of women experience, When (you're told) about postpartum depression you think it's 'I feel negative feelings towards my child; I want to injure or hurt my child.' I've never, ever had those feelings." 

The struggles are different for each woman, some may feel that way, the experience spectrum is broad. Hayden highlighted that is important to talked about it, so you know that you are not alone and that you can heal. 

Drew Barrymore, funny, cute and talented actress. She enjoys being a mother, she has two girls. She was totally OK after her first daughter was born, but that was not the case with daughter number two. "I really got under the cloud." is what she said her postpartum depression felt like.

After she gave birth to daughter Frankie, she sensed something was not right. "I didn't have postpartum the first time so I didn't understand it because I was like, 'I feel great!' The second time I was like, 'Oh, whoa, I see what people talk about now. I understand.'"

For her, that dark time lasted only six months, still, she feels grateful for the experience because it was a learning experience, it's a constant reminder that tells her to stay in the present moment.

Chrissy Teigen, model, television host, and author talked about her quiet battle with postpartum depression in an essay for Glamour. She got very real about her struggles. 

When she and husband John Legend welcome their first daughter Luna, she was happy, but then everything just went wrong. "Getting out of bed to get to set was painful." She says she was apathetic and painfully unhappy and because she didn't know why she didn't seek help. Anyone can relate?

She learned why when her general practitioner diagnosed her with postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety. It took her eight months to get diagnosed and get help. She suffered in silence and in fear all that time. 

She took antidepressants to get better, but what helped her the most was talking about it with family and friends and by opening up in her letter. "I'm speaking up now because I want people to know it can happen to anybody and I don't want people who have it to feel embarrassed or to feel alone."

For the amazing Adele, giving birth to her son Angelo was a life-changing moment. She spoke about what being a mother meant to her in Vanity Fair, she was very open about it.

Another thing she was very open about, was her experience with postpartum depression after her son Angelo was born. She was asked if she will have another child and she said "I'm too scared. I had really a bad postpartum depression after I had my son, and it frightened me."

To get better she didn't take antidepressants, but also she didn't talk about it with anyone until she found other mothers who were having the same struggles as her, They cried together, and supported each other and for her that was it. "It lifted." 

Since the birth of your child, have you cried daily, not being able to eat, and you lashed out at your loved ones? Those where the symptoms Bryce Dallas experience after giving birth to her son. She has talked about her postpartum depression in an essay posted in GOOP. 

"Postpartum depression is hard to describe-- the way the body and mind and spirit fracture and crumble in the wake of what most believe should be a celebratory time." She described her personal experience as suffering emotional amnesia, she couldn't genuinely feel any emotion and she referred to his son as "it" instead of his given name Theo.

She sought help and overcame that dark time with help from her midwife who suggested a holistic therapy, help from her doctor and of course help from her family and by reading Brook Shields' book.

Leana Heady, an actress of the HBO hit series Game of Thrones suffered from postpartum depression after giving birth to her son Wylie while filming the first season of the series. What made it extra hard was that she didn't know she was suffering PPD. " I was postnatally depressed but I didn't know it."

She was diagnosed until she went to see a doctor for a checkup, and when she burst into tears the doctor told her she was postnatally depressed. She was very surprised and ask "Why is that?" The good news is that she got the help that she needed.

The actress Amanda Peet was also a celebrity mom that suffered from postpartum depression after the birth of her first daughter Frankie.

She told Gotham Magazine back in 2008 that while she was pregnant she was euphoric, but once her daughter was born everything "came crashing down", She "felt sleep deprived and ambivalent about motherhood", Fortunately, she got better and now is the mother of three.

We hope that by reading all the stories about how these celebrity moms struggle with postpartum depression encourages you to talk about it or help someone you know talk about. 

Now you know that you don't have to feel guilty, that you're not alone and that the way to get better is to seek professional help and the support of your loved ones.