There are many celebrity mothers who are quick to take a pay cheque through selling photos of their newborns to the press and exploiting every aspect of their personal life. Then there are others who use their public status and life experiences to share the more difficult times in life with those who might be suffering the same.
Experts claim that between 5%-25% of mothers experience postpartum depression after childbirth and usually the symptoms show within six months of giving birth. These symptoms can include feelings of sadness, low energy, drastic changes in sleeping patterns, loss of appetite, reduced desire for sex, emotional outbursts, irritability and anxiety. If undiagnosed there is a risk that the sufferer will withdraw from family and friends which increases the potential of suicidal thoughts.
Over the past few years, more and more public figures have come forward to discuss postpartum depression. These following mothers all had one thing in common - they suffered with this illness and here they share how this scary and isolated time felt for them.
12 Hayden Panettiere
This was the month when the world finally got to see Nashville actress Hayden Panettiere back on the red carpet looking like her usual stunning self. She had previously been undergoing treatment for postpartum depression after voluntarily checking into rehab last year.
She announced that she was suffering with the illness on Live with Kelly and Michael shortly after giving birth to Kaya Evdokia Klitschko her first daughter with partner, heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. The 26-year-old said, "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. Some women do. But you don’t realize how broad of a spectrum you can really experience that on." She also urged women to come forward and discuss their issues without fear of anyone judging them.
11 Alanis Morissette
Canadian singer Alanis Morissette had a traumatic experience when she was in labour during a home birth for 25 hours without medication. Her husband, rapper Mario "Souleye" Treadway, was with her throughout the entire experience and they eventually delivered a healthy baby son, Ever Imre Morissette-Treadway.
She told British magazine You how the birth affected her and that it triggered months of depression afterwards explaining, "The degree and intensity of my post-natal depression shocked me. I am predisposed to depression, but what surprised me this time was the physical pain. I hadn’t realized the depths to which you can ache – limbs, back, torso, head, everything hurt – and it went on for 15 months. I felt as if I was covered in tar and everything took 50 times more effort than normal."
10 Courteney Cox
One myth about postpartum depression is that it occurs instantly after the mother has given birth. In some cases this is not true and one actress who knows this through an experience of her own is 41-year-old Courteney Cox. She told USA Today, "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."
She got back on her feet following a hormone treatment and having her best friend and Friends co-star Jennifer Aniston living close-by. Cox did want a second child with her husband David Arquette and was hoping for a boy, but they sadly divorced in 2013.
9 Amanda Peet
After actress Amanda Peet and her screenwriter husband David Benioff welcome their first child, a daughter named Frankie, she became unwell with "fairly serious postpartum depression." Peet believed that the birth would hit her with a wave of euphoria but sadly she experienced the exact opposite.
In an interview with Gotham magazine she revealed, "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.' 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." Peet overcame her struggles and has had two more children since.
8 Kristen Bell
For Veronica Mars actress Kristen Bell her depression started during the pregnancy. She told Just Jared online magazine that she had trouble bonding with her unborn child revealing, "I love people the more I know them, and I didn't know her. It could've been a water bottle in my belly, that's about how connected I felt to her during my pregnancy. But within about 24 hours after she came out, my hormones reset, and they reprogrammed my feelings about her."
All her fears disappeared however when in 2013 she gave birth to her first daughter, Lincoln, with husband Dax Shepherd. A year later they had their second daughter Delta.
7 Celine Dion
Aged 41-years-old Celine Dion gave birth to two healthy twin boys Nelson and Eddy in 2010. She called motherhood "tiring but an intense joy." The My Heart Will Go On singer did confess years later to Gala magazine that she was having a tougher time than she initially let on. She revealed, "“Some of the first days after I came home, I was a little outside myself. I had no appetite, and that bothered me. My mother remarked that she noticed I had moments of lifelessness."
She continued, "One moment, tremendous happiness; the next, fatigue sets in, and I cried for no reason, and then that took care of itself. It’s for things like that after having a baby that mothers really need emotional support."
Sadly in early 2016 her husband, mentor and father of her sons, René Angélil, passed away aged 73-years-old after a long battle with throat cancer. The pair had known each other since she was 12-years-old and the star continues to remain strong for her family.
6 Vanessa Lachey
Nick Lachey's wife Vanessa posted an article on her website following the birth of her son Camden John in 2013 discussing her depression. She explained the difference between "baby blues" and real postpartum depression. In a very honest account she described how she "started feeding Camden and crying my eyes out. I felt like I had officially come undone."
She also added to the post, "I think it's just fear. The fear of 'messing up' this little boy. No matter how many books you read, nothing prepares you better than the real thing. I felt lost, unloved, alone and at my wits end." She said after seeking help she learned a very valuable lesson - that there is no such thing as the perfect mother.
5 Brooke Shields
Brooke Shields was one of the first celebrities to speak out publicly about her struggle with postpartum depression. Almost immediately after she gave birth to her daughter, Rowan Francis, in 2003 she began to experience suicidal thoughts and planned to take her own life. The former Calvin Klein model remembers, "I really didn't want to live anymore." She also told WebMD magazine that she wanted to jump out her window but then said to herself, "You're only on the fourth floor. You'll get broken to bits and then you will be even worse.'"
Shields then engaged in a very public battle with actor Tom Cruise when he heard she was taking the antidepressant drug Paxil. He said of her decision, "Here is a woman and I care about Brooke Shields, because I think she is an incredibly talented woman, you look at (and think), where has her career gone?" Shields was furious with Cruise's statements about anti-depressants and that they were "irresponsible" and "dangerous." Shields has since helped more and more mothers come forward about the illness.
4 Bryce Dallas Howard
Bryce Dallas Howard was another actress who suffered badly from severe depression after her pregnancy and also had thoughts of ending her life. She wrote a blog post on Gwyneth Paltrow's website Goop following the birth of her son Theo.
The Jurassic World star revealed, "I distinctly remember the first night I was alone. It was less than a week after the birth. Theo woke up next to me, and I knew I needed to begin breast-feeding. Because of the stitches, moving even an inch sent daggers of pain tearing through my body. I tried to sit, but finally gave up and lay still as my tiny son cried. I thought, 'I’m going to die here, lying next to my newborn son. I am literally going to die tonight.'"
3 Britney Spears
Almost everyone can remember Britney's breakdown in 2007, she displayed extremely erratic behaviour including shaving her head and drinking heavily following the birth of her sons, Sean Preston Federline and Jayden James Federline. Unfortunately Britney suffered every mother's worst nightmare when she had to temporarily hand over custody of her children.
Although most people associate depression with very low behaviours Susan Dowd Stone, a licensed clinical social worker and president of Postpartum Support International, explains that this isn't always the case. She told E! Online, "People think of depression as being in bed all day, or crying all day. But in manic states, (women) can engage in risk-taking behavior." Almost ten years on, Britney has now fully recovered and has a headline show in Las Vegas.
2 Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow had her first daughter Apple with husband, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, in 2004. Two years later they had a son, Moses, yet this time she felt very different.
She wrote on her blog Goop, "When my son came into the world in 2006, I expected to have another period of euphoria following his birth, much the way I had when my daughter was born. Instead I was confronted with one of the darkest and most painfully debilitating chapters of my life. For about five months I had, what I can see in hindsight as postnatal depression." In 2014, Gwyneth and Chris decided to have a "conscious uncoupling" and head their own separate ways.
1 Angelina Jolie
In 2008, Angelina Jolie already had a full house with husband Brad Pitt and their children Maddox, 7, Pax, 4, Zahara, 3, and Shiloh, 2. They then introduced twins Vivienne and Knox to the family but this time Jolie struggled to cope. Insiders told In Touch magazine that she had slipped into 'depression mode' but it wasn't until years later that the truth was finally revealed exactly what triggered this.
Angelina had received the news that she had an 87% risk of developing breast cancer. After just giving birth to twins and having a large family to support, she took drastic action and underwent a preventive double mastectomy. Despite hormone replacement therapy the surgery brought on premature menopause.
Brad Pitt said of his wife's brave decision in an NBC interview, "Whatever's got to be done to keep the family together and keep the family together as long as possible is gonna be done. This was her charge, no question. It's a scary decision. There's many things that can go wrong and go many different directions."
Sources: people.com, postpartumprogress.com
