Motherhood is definitely the most rewarding and fulfilling experience of a woman’s life. However, there are certain dark secrets that are a part and parcel of motherhood and a new mother has to learn to cope with them. Postpartum Depression, for instance, is one such troubling condition that affects one out of seven new mothers around the world. Postpartum Depression is a condition where the new mother experiences chronic depressive feelings to such an extent that it becomes difficult for her to go about with day-to-day activities normally. It may affect the mother soon after childbirth or a few days/weeks/months later. The mother feels sad, stressed, irritable, and anxious to an alarmingly high level and requires medical treatment to recover.

Many of us feel that celebrities never have to face any problem both pre and post motherhood, which is untrue. Celebrity moms are as much vulnerable to postpartum depression as any other female. From Drew Barrymore to Brooke Shields and Gwyneth Paltrow, there are many examples where celebrity moms faced postpartum depression and struggled to cope with it. In fact, for a celebrity mom dealing with postpartum depression is more difficult because of constantly being monitored by news-hungry paparazzi and media houses. Let’s check out some inspiring stories of celebrities who successfully dealt with postpartum depression without letting it affect their personal or professional lives.

Ivanka Trump

Ivanka Trump experienced postpartum depression with all of her children. It was a challenging and emotionally demanding time for her as she couldn’t fulfill her duties as a parent, an executive and an entrepreneur. However, instead of giving up, she gave herself enough time to heal properly. Her only advice to women is to stay positive and get help to deal with postpartum depression.

Chrissy Teigen

Teigen’s delivery went well after her daughter Luna was born but she struggled to stay happy and content for a whole year after childbirth because of postpartum depression. During that dark phase of her life, she constantly felt tired and in pain. She had sleepless nights and relentless vomiting sessions. Basically, she couldn’t enjoy motherhood for a year because of the many adverse aftereffects of postpartum depression. Her advice to other women is to never feel embarrassed about it or feel that they are the only one going through postpartum depression as it can hit anyone anytime.

Serena Williams

The 23-times Grand Slam winner also faced postpartum depression after giving birth to her daughter Alexis Olympia. She delivered the baby via an emergency C-section, which she says was a near-death experience because she had pulmonary embolism. Williams believe that postpartum depression is like the fourth trimester of pregnancy and it is important to be vocal about it to relieve the taboo-like status associated with this condition.

Gretchen Rossi

Rossi is known for her amazing performance in Real Housewives of Orange County. In July 2019, she gave birth to a beautiful daughter Skylar Gray and experienced postpartum depression, which she refers to as a difficult period of motherhood. Initially, she didn’t know how to cope with it, and even couldn’t form a connection with Skylar. She believes that her condition worsened because she didn’t acknowledge that she might be suffering from postpartum depression. She urges women to never ignore signs of depression and consult a doctor for help.

Kristen Bell

When Kristen was 18, her mom told her that serotonin imbalance runs in their family line and she should be careful because it can be passed on from female to female. Bell was able to cope with postpartum depression only because she didn’t hide it and always discussed issues with her family without feeling embarrassed. The one advice she always remembered from her mom is to seek professional help instead of feeling guilty or going for self-medication, and she wants every woman to follow this advice.

Drew Barrymore

With her first baby, Drew didn’t experience postpartum depression, which is why she was too casual about the depressive symptoms after she gave birth to her second child. It was more like a myth to her until she finally got a taste of it, and the experience still haunts her. Drew believes that it is such an overwhelming condition that one finds it difficult to manage life but with determined approach and timely diagnosis it is possible to come out of the troubling phase successfully.

Adele

Adele experienced postpartum depression soon after she delivered her first baby. At the time, she didn’t know much about post-natal depression, which is the term used for postpartum depression in England. She remembers that she didn’t want to be with her newborn son because of the fear that she might hurt him. This was devastating for her as she was obsessed with her son and felt like she wasn’t performing her duties well enough. But, once the phase was over, she was able to enjoy life as before.

Bryce Dallas Howard

Howard thought that she was suffering from emotional amnesia during her battle with postpartum depression. She couldn’t genuinely be happy or active and always pretended to be normal for the sake of others around her including her baby boy. She sobbed while having a shower because the feeling was so overwhelming for her. Howard believes that one must never hide feelings and should discuss it with someone close so as to lessen some of the burden from their mind. She didn’t do so and now regrets it.

Courteney Cox

Courteney Cox had a hard time dealing with postpartum depression, which she experienced six months after delivering Coco. She couldn’t breathe properly and her heart raced too fast, which scared her. She quickly sought medical help and learned that it was due to a hormonal imbalance. To treat the condition she took progesterone and was able to recover with the help and support from her close friends Jennifer Anniston and Brooke Shields.

Gwyneth Paltrow

Paltrow delivered her son Moses in 2006 and thus began a dark and painful chapter of her life where she became so emotionally distraught that she found it difficult to connect to her baby. She calls this a terrible time where she couldn’t focus on anything and felt like a zombie. However, her experience was totally different after she delivered her second baby Apple. She was happy to be able to connect with her daughter and stay happy after childbirth, something she yearned for when Moses arrived.

Brooke Shields

Shields wrote a book on Postpartum Depression titled Down Came the Rain: My Journey With Postpartum Depression. In this book, she poured her heart out and told the world about how she coped with it. Initially, she felt that the symptoms she was facing were because of exhaustion but then she started panicking a lot more frequently, which was unusual. Whenever Rowan cried, she felt sick to her stomach and couldn’t breathe. As the time passed, her feelings of devastation increased and she became so detached to her surroundings that she didn’t even want to hold her crying daughter. She felt like she was failing but thankfully with the right treatment she was able to pass that dark phase.

Vanessa Lachey

On her blog, Lachey explained about the baby blues she experienced soon after delivering Camden. She used to cry inconsolably for no apparent reason, sometimes even while she was feeding her baby. She felt tired all the time and was surprised to not see that post-pregnancy glow that she was expecting. She used to be very active before childbirth, something she missed a lot but had no control over her actions and emotions back then. Lachey also wrote that post-pregnancy life can have unexpected twists and one must always be prepared for the worse.

Amanda Peet

Amanda Peet experienced serious postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter because of her euphoric pregnancy. She felt seriously sleep-deprived, tired and disturbed. She felt guilty because she wasn’t able to fully concentrate on her baby or enjoy motherhood. Talking about postpartum depression, believes Amanda, is the only way to deal with this condition successfully.

Hayden Panettiere

Panettiere never developed negative feelings about her baby, like it is generally associated with postpartum depression. She believes that every woman faces such issues after childbirth but it is the unexpectedness of the condition and the sheer vastness of negative emotions that makes it entirely unbearable for the new mother. She wants to tell every woman that postpartum depression is a reality, it is scary and painful, it happens to everyone and it does heal quickly with the support of your loved ones and your doctor.

Alyssa Milano

In an essay Milano wrote for Time, she explained that for years her family ignored symptoms of postpartum depression, which she still regrets. She wants women to talk about the issue and never ignore their health after childbirth. Milano had had a smooth pregnancy but her delivery was quite painful because she had to endure hours of labor before going in for a C-section. She experienced her first anxiety attack right after she came back home from the hospital. But, she immediately consulted her doctor and was able to overcome postpartum depression and anxiety in no time.

Alanis Morissette

Morissette faced serious depression and pain after her first two pregnancies. After her first baby, she felt severe pain everywhere in her body from limbs and torso to back and head. The physical pain continued for fifteen months and during this time, she felt that she had to struggle a lot for performing even ordinary chores. She took her time opening up about it, which she deems is a grave mistake and no one should do so. With her second child, she was more prepared for postpartum depression and healed rather quickly with the help of proper medication.

Lena Headey

Lena Headey was struck with postpartum depression during the shooting of Game of Thrones Season 1, after she had delivered her son Wylie. She had to continue shooting and needed to feel better, which is why she immediately went to her doctor. Today, she feels that had it not been for the GoT season, she might have continued to face difficulties with postpartum depression. Thankfully, she was able to seek help at the right time and coped with the condition smoothly.

Sarah Michelle Gellar

Gellar believes that motherhood is a wonderful experience but it is impossible to predict what’s in store for the mother after giving birth. Like other women, Gellar also struggled with postpartum depression when she delivered her first baby. But, she passed this phase fairly conveniently because she got help from the right people. She wants every woman to know that she isn’t alone in this and that postpartum depression is curable, all you need is willpower and positive approach.

Celine Dion

Celine Dion faced postpartum depression soon after she gave birth to her twins and returned home from hospital. During that phase, she felt like she had lost control over her emotions; she felt happy one day and extremely sad and depressed the next day. She used to cry for no reason and felt tired and fatigued all day long. With no will to move around and facing a loss of appetite, she felt lifeless. Her mother took charge of the situation and gave her the much needed emotional support. What brought her out of this phase was the reassuring that this was entirely normal and will be over sooner or later.

Marie Osmond

In Behind the Smile, Osmond wrote that she didn’t pay heed to her doctor’s advice to be prepared for the unexpected thinking that she had got everything well-sorted. She had planned to go back to work right after giving birth, get back in shape and perform all of her routine tasks just like before. However, she couldn’t do any of this because all she wanted to do was cry. She became hysterical for no reason and didn’t even realize what she was doing. It was a phase of deepest despair for her as she couldn’t control her emotions at all.

Lisa Rinna

Rinna experienced serious postpartum depression after giving birth to her first daughter Delilah. She hid her feelings and problems with everyone, even her husband. Her strange behavior made her husband irritated at times, which further made her depressed. She wasn’t interested in sex anymore and felt like being worthless. For ten months she tried to cope but couldn’t and finally decided to open up and talk about her condition. This was when she felt a lot less burdened and things started changing for the better.

Selma Blair

Blair was quite vocal about her postpartum hair loss, and garnered much appreciation from mothers around the world. She stated that after delivering her son Arthur Saint, she noticed abrupt and extreme hair loss. It was very difficult time as she had to stay in the shower a lot longer just to collect the fallen hair so that the drain doesn’t get clogged. She waited for it to subside on its own for three months but it didn’t happen. So, she decided to shave her head instead of going for fake extensions. She believes that actresses must start talking about it so that others must be prepared for the unexpected.

Kendra Wilkinson

Wilkinson experienced postpartum depression twice, first time when she had Jank Jr. and then after delivering Alijah. During that phase, she became too distraught; she didn’t want to brush her hair or take a bath. Life in LA was glamorous, she often thought, and now that she was in Indianapolis, she stayed depressed. Wilkinson didn’t even want to look in the mirror. Her will to live diminished as she started believing that this phase will never end.

Carnie Wilson

Wilson experienced postpartum depression after she had her daughter Lola Sofia. She used to cry over even the smallest of issues. Her emotions became too unpredictable as one minute she was happy and the next she felt sad and scared. Wilson was afraid of failing to care for her baby properly; the feeling that there was someone totally dependent upon her overwhelmed her physically and emotionally. However, now that she is all fine and healthy, she wants to tell other women that they should speak up about their emotions and must get help as soon as possible.

Melissa Rycroft Strickland

Melissa believed that she is the only one going through postpartum depression. After delivering her daughter Ava, she thought that all she was experiencing was part of the much talked about baby blues. Despite noticing severe symptoms of postpartum depression, Melissa went into a continuous state of denial because she believed that women experiencing it want to hurt their baby, which wasn’t the case with her. However, she did feel disconnected with Ava, there was a strange kind of emptiness in her heart, which led her to believe that something was definitely wrong with her. She would get excessively angry, sad, and aggressive, which frustrated her as usually she is in control of her emotions. Today, she admits that she was a textbook case of postpartum depression, and talking about it is the first step towards curing it.

Britney Spears

Spears experienced postpartum depression with both her pregnancies. When she delivered her first baby Preston, she noticed signs of severe depression but decided not to seek help and or speak out. This is why after having Jayden, her condition worsened. She became so mentally unstable that despite loving her children, she believed they were unsafe in her presence. Her power of judgment got severely affected and she found it difficult to manage everyday life tasks, which made everything a lot more tragic for her and those around her.

Christina Perri

Perri has been relatively more vocal about her experiences with depression and anxiety. In late 2018, around Christmas time Perri started noticing postpartum depression symptoms after having her daughter Carmella. She was so disturbed that she stopped breastfeeding her baby altogether. She claims that it was a sad and dark period of her life as she struggled to be happy and had to pretend that she was feeling alright. However, she wasn’t fine and she decided to speak up about it. When she shared her account of dealing with postpartum depression on Instagram, she received messages from 15,000 mothers, which led to the formation of her Mommy Tribe. Perri now believes that talking about it can help a lot and one can actually feel better.

Kayla Rae Reid

Reid noticed that she was suffering from postpartum depression around a year after she had her son Caiden Zane. In a YouTube video titled My Journey with PPD: Postpartum Depression, the starlet revealed how she fought depression. She felt dead from within and on some days didn’t even want to get out of the bed, which makes her sad now since she couldn’t give enough time to her son. Her battle with postpartum depression continued for a year, but she still thinks she hasn’t fully recovered. There are, however, more good days now than bad days and life feels more colorful and worth living.

Postpartum Depression Symptoms

The first thing you need to tell yourself is that postpartum depression happens, and it is completely normal. It is beyond the boundaries of religion, culture and ethnicity, and can affect any woman.

You should immediately seek professional help and support by speaking to your loved ones about it. Learn to differentiate between baby blues and postpartum depression. Baby blues also cause depressive symptoms but these are short-term signs that typically go away on their own. However, postpartum depression doesn’t go away unless you get treated.

If it is not treated timely, it may last for up to a year. It can affect the mother drastically by weakening her ability to reason, focus, and think logically. The mother experiences chronic depression, sadness, anxiety, and weepiness, due to which she cannot take care of her baby or fulfill her personal or professional duties. Every mother from the one experiencing smooth pregnancy and delivery to first-time moms and those having more than one kid is vulnerable to postpartum depression.