Gwyneth Paltrow opens up about battling postpartum depression.
The “Country Strong” actress sat down with Good Housekeeping to talk about her struggle after her second child, son Moses, 4, was born. “I felt like a zombie. I couldn’t access my heart. I couldn’t access my emotions. I couldn’t connect. It was terrible, it was the exact opposite of what had happened when Apple (6) was born. With her, I was on cloud nine. I couldn’t believe it wasn’t the same. I just thought it meant I was a terrible mother and a terrible person.”
Gwyneth revealed that she wasn’t quite sure what she was feeling until husband Chris Martin pointed out that something was very wrong. “I thought postpartum depression meant you were sobbing every single day and incapable of looking after a child. But there are different shades of it and depths of it, which is why I think it’s so important for women to talk about it. It was a trying time. I felt like a failure.”
Actress Bryce Dallas Howard shared a few months ago (on Gwyneth’s website) that she, too, suffered from postpartum depression after her son was born. It’s nice to see that there’s no longer that “bad mom” stigma attached to the condition. Good for both of them for speaking out about it and sharing their experiences.
