Though Gwyneth Paltrow is currently feeling “true happiness” after celebrating her engagement to Brad Falchuck, the mum-of-two still remembers the “dark place” she was in following the birth of her second child, 12-year-old Moses.
The actress spoke candidly with her mum Blythe Danner for the most recent episode of her Goop podcast. In the episode titled “Gwyneth x Blythe: On Mothers and Daughters,” Gwyneth recalled her experience post-natal depression after she and her ex-husband Chris Martin welcomed their son.
“I think [it] was really shocking to me because I never thought that I would be a person who got post-natal depression,” the 45-year-old actress admitted.
Gwyneth explained that she was particularly unprepared for feeling how she did, after the birth of daughter Apple in 2004 was a completely different experience.
“I was so euphoric when Apple was born, and I assumed it would happen with Mosey and it just … it took a while. I really went into a dark place,” she said.
The Paltrow-Martin clan.
Though the actress says she struggled in the months after Moses was born, she believes her suffering strengthened her bond with her son instead of damaging it.
“After Moses was born I had postpartum depression. It was a difficult time, and because of that I believe I have an extra empathy for him, and he for me,” she told previously US InStyle magazine.
Gwyneth believes her bond with her son Moses was strengthened by her struggle with post-natal depression.
Gwnyeth’s ex-husband, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin was the first person to identify her sympotms.
“About four months into it, Chris came to me and said, ‘Something’s wrong. Something’s wrong.’ I kept saying, ‘No, no, I’m fine, ‘ she revealed to Good Housekeeping.
“But Chris identified it, and that sort of burst the bubble.”
Gwyneth and her mum Blythe Danner spoke candidly on the Goop podcast.
During the podcast which is airing in time for Mother’s Day in the US, Gwyneth switched the tone of the episode and probed her mum for information on her love life.
“From my standpoint, you’ve had this amazing life, not that it’s always been easy,” Gwyneth said to her mum who’s husband died from cancer in 2002.
“But you have these wonderful friends and children that love you and grandchildren that adore you. You’ve had this incredible career. I just wonder, are there still things you really want to accomplish?”
Blythe replied, “You know, I’m happy to say that I really like my own company and I’ve become a bit of hermit, which I need to be careful of.”
Gwyneth then joked about signing her mum up for online dating apps, but she was not interested.
“Do you want a boyfriend?” Gwyneth asked.
“No. I have no interest. Really I don’t. If I got my heart broken, I’d probably jump off the railing,” she said. “And I don’t want to be bored, so it’s one or the other.”
To which Gwyneth craftily quipped: “I can also go to Goop.com and get you a vibrator.”
“Thanks very much, but no thanks,” her mum replied.
