11 Celebrity Moms Who Opened Up About Their Post-Birth Experience Reminding Women That They Are Not Alone

Childbirth is one of the most exciting events in our lives, but it also often comes with a mix of contrasting feelings that some women don’t expect. It can be so powerful and overwhelming that it can’t and shouldn’t be ignored. All of these celebrities have decided to speak about the less appealing side of having a child and the ways they managed to overcome it.

Bright Side brings you stories of 11 celebrity moms who were brave enough to share their post-birth experiences publicly.

1. Chrissy Teigen

After Chrissy Teigen and her husband John Legend welcomed their first child, daughter Luna, in 2016, Chrissy admitted that she struggled with baby blues: ’’When I wasn’t in the studio, I never left the house. I mean, never. Not even a tiptoe out. Most days were spent on the exact same spot on the couch and rarely would I muster up the energy to make it upstairs for bed. John would sleep on the couch with me, sometimes 4 nights in a row. There was a lot of spontaneous crying.’’

2. Drew Barrymore

The famous actress and the mother of 2 daughters said that she didn’t experience anything unusual during and after her first pregnancy, but she was feeling ’’under the cloud’’ after giving birth to her second child. Luckily, the cloud lifted after about 6 months but Drew confessed that this experience made her more aware and taught her to ’’stay present in the moment’.’

3. Adele

Honest as always, Adele opened up about the overwhelming anxiety she felt after giving birth to her son in 2012: “You’re worried you might hurt your child, you’re worried you weren’t doing a good job,” describing her mood in the early stage of motherhood as “really bad.”

“I was obsessed with my child. I felt very inadequate. I felt like I’d made the worst decision of my life.” she said. Also, adding that sometimes she misses her old self: “My friends, my hobbies, the things I like doing without a baby, are things that make me who I am, and I didn’t really have access to that for a while.” She felt a sense of relief after talking to some of her friends who felt the same way.

4. Courteney Cox

After welcoming her baby daughter Coco in 2004, the star of Friends went through a very difficult time: “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 later said. Following the doctor’s advice and confiding in her close friends helped Cox overcome her struggle and become stronger.

5. Lena Headey

Game of Thrones star Lena Headey was frank about her experience after childbirth: ’’It was really horrendous’’, she said, ’’I was postnatally depressed, but I didn’t know it. I saw a doctor for the medical check, and I just burst into tears. She said I had postpartum depression, and I went, “Am I? Why is that?” She admits that the first year of filming Game of Thrones was very challenging for her, as she had to shoot demanding scenes while ’’figuring out motherhood’’ at the same time.

6. Alanis Morissette

The famous Canadian singer and mother of 3 confessed that she experienced mood changes after each of her pregnancies, adding that it got ’’progressively worse’’ every time. Alanis describes the feeling like, ’’being underwater and covered in tar’’ simultaneously. After she stopped breastfeeding her youngest child, Morissette noticed that her mood was improving: ’’I feel like I have myself back. I didn’t have access to her for so long,’’ she said.

7. Brooke Shields

Brooke Shields’ post-birth mood swings were so overwhelming that she decided to write a book about it. She was one of the first celebrity moms to speak publicly about the not-so-happy side of motherhood. Recalling the day her daughter was born, Brooke said: ’’Everybody says it’s the most amazing moment in your life. I don’t know how many people are really telling the truth because I think it becomes amazing—you have to grow into it.’’

After returning from the hospital, she felt even worse: ’’I had no desire to even pretend to care about the baby. And it absolutely terrified me." Eventually, she decided to seek medical help and managed to recover over time. Brook advises moms who are going through the same thing to not ignore their feelings and to talk openly about them without embarrassment.

8. Princess Diana

Back in the ’90s, the issue of post-birth blues was not widely discussed, so when Princess Diana openly talked about it in one interview, it resonated with millions of women. After experiencing a difficult pregnancy, Princess Diana was not in high spirits after giving birth to Prince William. “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,” she said.

9. Gwyneth Paltrow

Hollywood superstar Gwyneth Paltrow experienced changes in mood after giving birth to her second child, son Moses. She described her experience as “shocking,” as she was not expecting it. She initially turned to a doctor for help, but later discovered that regular exercise, enough sleep, and an overall healthier lifestyle really helped her feel better and less gloomy.

10. Sarah Michelle Gellar

American actress and entrepreneur, who has 2 kids with husband Freddie Prinze Jr., shared her parenting ups and downs in the book Life After Birth, saying: “Having kids is wonderful, and life-changing, and rarely what you’re prepared for.” It was after her first child was born that she noticed changes in her mood, but she didn’t hesitate to talk about it and turn to people around her: ’’I got help and made it through, and every day since has been the best gift I could ever have asked for," she says.

11. Amanda Peet

Another Hollywood star, Amanda Peet, admitted that she was not feeling her best after giving birth to her first child, daughter Frankie. She explained that when the feeling of euphoria during pregnancy faded away: “all came crashing down the second [Frankie] was born.” Instead of feeling “fulfilled,” Amanda says she felt “sleep-deprived beyond belief” and not thrilled about motherhood.

She thinks it’s a topic that should be discussed openly: ’’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,’’’ she adds.

If you had a similar experience to these famous women, how did you manage to get through it? Share your story with us in the comments.