The world has gotten a lot better at talking about mental health in the last few years, but there’s one topic so many people still avoid.
Postnatal depression (PND), also known as postpartum depression or the “baby blues”, is still surrounded by stigma even in 2021.
Mums-to-be are nervous about asking about the condition, while new mums experiencing it often stay quiet about their struggles.
That’s why celebrity mums are using their platforms to share their own experiences and break the barrier of silence around PND.
Just yesterday Dana Stephensen, who is engaged to and shares two daughters with Purple Wiggle Lachy Gillespie, opened up about her own PND battle.
Sharing a photo of her twins Lottie and Lulu to Instagram, Dana wrote: “Very early on I was diagnosed with severe postnatal depression and anxiety.
“Naturally, this altered the lens through which I was seeing the world and my capabilities, not to mention the guilt and shame that comes with feeling these truly awful feelings when it ‘should’ be the happiest time of your life.”
The dancer went on to say that for the first year she really struggled to cope with caring for her twins without extra help.
Fortunately fiancé Lachy and Dana’s mum stepped in to support her, but she noted that many mums suffer alone when it comes to PND.
“People close to me will say I coped extremely well under unprecedented circumstances, but my internal experience felt like one of failure,” she penned.
But she had some comforting words of advice for other mums too: “There are still more tears than I would like, my heart still races. My nerves on edge. But I manage.
“It’s taken time and tears to get here, I want other mums who are struggling to know that.
“Time and the right support are everything in helping you be the mother you know you can be.”
As we continue to break down the stigma that still surrounds PND, we’re celebrating the brave celebrity mums who have shared their own experiences.
From Dana, to Megan Gale and Jess Rowe, these are the mums ending the silence on Postnatal Depression.
If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, help is always available. Call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Dana Stephensen
The dancer, who is engaged to Purple Wiggle Lachy Gillespie, opened up about her postnatal depression battle on Instagram, admitting she struggled to cope with the realities of caring for twins.
“The unique challenges of twins were so overwhelming, the sleep deprivation so intense, the physical and emotional toll of tandem breastfeeding was beyond exhausting,” she wrote.
“The constant choosing between twins as a mother is so counter-intuitive it breaks your heart every single time, it still does. But tonight at bedtime when all they want is Mummy and it’s only me, I could actually trust that I could handle it. There are still more tears than I would like, my heart still races. My nerves on edge. But I manage.”
Princess Diana
Even royal mums struggle. Princess Diana opened up about her own experience with postnatal depression in her bombshell 1995 Panorama interview, revealing that she felt incredibly “low” after giving birth to Prince William, then Prince Harry.
“Then I was unwell with postnatal depression, which no one ever discusses, postnatal depression, you have to read about it afterwards, and that in itself was a bit of a difficult time,” she said. “You’d wake up in the morning feeling you didn’t want to get out of bed, you felt misunderstood, and just very, very low in yourself.”
Adele
Speaking to Vanity Fair in 2016, she said: “I’m very available to depression. I can slip in and out of it quite easily. I had really bad postpartum depression after I had my son, and it frightened me… I felt very inadequate; I felt like I’d made the worst decision of my life.”
The British music icon eventually opened up to a group of her friends who were also mums and found solace in the fact they were experiencing similar feelings. She added: “Four of my friends felt the same way I did, and everyone was too embarrassed to talk about it.”
Megan Gale
Megan Gale suffered two heartbreaking family losses – the death of her father and her partner’s father – around the time of her son River’s birth and said in 2019 that it made it harder for her to cope with new motherhood.
“I do remember crying every day, but I don’t think it was because of dad, I feel like it was because of feeling like I was not coping, feeling like I wasn’t getting by,” she revealed. “It’s really hard to distinguish between, am I just tired and emotional? Or is it hormones or am I a little bit depressed?”
Jessica Rowe
Author, TV presenter and podcast host Jessica Rowe revealed how post-natal depression still impacts her more than 10 years later in a moving piece for Now To Love in 2017.
She penned: “When Allegra was around six weeks of age, I knew that what I was experiencing was different to the sorts of emotions a new mum would traditionally go through. I felt very anxious, I had panic attacks.”
The former Studio 10 star realised she was suffering from PND and eventually sought help for her “destructive thoughts” and anxiety, going on medication that had a huge positive impact.
“For me, that was the beginning of returning to me. It was like I could feel this lovely change in the breeze; I could feel a return of hope.”
Chrissy Teigen
Model mum Chrissy Teigen has been open about her mental health struggles after giving birth to her two children, as well as her tragic pregnancy loss in 2020. She revealed her PND battle in a personal essay she penned for Glamour in 2017.
“I had everything I needed to be happy. And yet, for much of the last year, I felt unhappy,” she wrote. “What basically everyone around me — but me — knew up until December was this: I have postpartum depression.” Eventually she got help and was prescribed antidepressant medication that helped her feel like a “much different” person after her struggles.
Davina Smith
Nine Network newsreader and Gidget Foundation Australia ambassador Davina Smith gave The Australian Women’s Weekly a raw and candid account of her frightening struggle with postnatal depression in 2018.
“When Rose first arrived, I felt okay. But I also felt numb,” she penned of the months after her daughter’s birth, during which time she battled dark thoughts and didn’t seek help. “It’s not that I hated my baby. I just felt nothing.”
She eventually got help and was able to recover, but Davina has been open about the fact that PND leaves a lasting impact, writing: “But postnatal depression will always be with me because it took away precious moments with my daughter. When I look back at photos of Rose as a baby I feel so much sadness because I know how desperate and alone I felt.”
Libby Trickett
Former Olympian Libby Trickett shared her devastating battle with postnatal depression with The Weekly in 2019, confessing that she struggled with motherhood after the birth of her first daughter, Poppy. “I was having thoughts I’m not proud of,” she said at the time.
“I felt ashamed, like this weakness had consumed me. Unless you’ve been through it, no one understands,” the mum-of-three said of the days before she got help. “I suspect he [her partner Luke] knew well before I was properly diagnosed with postnatal depression, but I had to get to that point on my own.”
