16 Celebrities Who’ve Opened Up About Postpartum Depression

In an interview with Vanity Fair, published in October 2022, Carey Mulligan revealed her experiences with postnatal depression following the birth of her first child, daughter Evelyn, in 2015.

The She Said star, who shares her now seven-year-old with husband Marcus Mumford, said returning to work was a 'light' in her journey to healing.

Mulligan, who is also a mother to five-year-old son Wilfred, said: 'It was either cancel the whole thing or just get on and do it. And that – and a combination of lots of other things, and help and support from everyone around me – was my light.'

Jamie Chung became a first-time mum in October of 2021, when she welcomed twin boys with husband Bryan Greenberg.

In an interview with People, she opened up about the 'scary transition' she felt during motherhood while dealing with postpartum depression.

The 39-year-old said: 'Therapy really helped me prep mentally for this lifestyle change and to not be afraid to talk about certain issues because it's not the first thing you want to say when you have kids.

'You don't want to start with something negative or challenging, but I do think that these postpartum depression issues are so real.'

Chung, who's shared her fertility struggles in the past and at 35 revealed that she had started freezing her eggs, added: 'I felt quite guilty feeling certain things that I felt. And just knowing that it's normal and it's just because you're overwhelmed and you're full of anxiety and it's a scary transition for some people.'

And the Gotham star decided against a traditional baby shower to avoid 'too much tension' and 'anxiety.'

Chrissy Teigen is a mother-of-two to five year-old Luna and three-year-old Miles.

The 36-year-old shares her children with husband of nine years, John Legend.

Teigen, who has struggled with infertility and went through IVF treatment to have children, previously spoke openly about suffering from postpartum depression.

After giving birth to daughter Luna, she wrote an emotional Glamour essay that read: 'What basically everyone around me — but me — knew up until December was this: I have postpartum depression. How can I feel this way when everything is so great? I’ve had a hard time coming to terms with that, and I hesitated to even talk about this.'

And Teigen also suffered a heartbreaking miscarriage in September of 2021.

Gwyneth Paltrow has two teenage children, 18-year-old daughter Apple and 16-year-old son Moses, who she shares with ex-husband Chris Martin.

In April 2018, the Goop founder star opened up about her postnatal depression during her podcast, saying she was in a 'dark' place after Moses' birth.

'It was really shocking to me because I never thought that I would be a person who got post-natal depression,' she said.

'I was so euphoric when Apple was born, and I assumed it would happen with Mosey and it just … it took a while,' she added.

In 2011, the Sliding Doors star, who's now married to producer and television writer Brad Falchuk, recalled former husband Martin realising her depression, which she revealed to Good Housekeeping.

'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." But Chris identified it, and that sort of burst the bubble,' Paltrow told Good Housekeeping in 2011.

She continued: '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.'

Grace Elizabeth, the 25-year-old model who has walked the runway for brands such as Chanel, Max Mara and Ralph Lauren, opened up about the struggles she's faced since welcoming son Noah in 2021 with husband Nicolas Krause.

Speaking to ELLE US, Elizabeth said of early motherhood, 'You feel like you're failing all the time, even when you're not. Hormone flux is crazy. It's up and down.'

Former Victoria's Secret Angel Elizabeth, who's also an advocate for the fight against ovarian cancer, after her mum was diagnosed with it in 2018, also highlighted that she speaks to mums Gigi Hadid and Emily Ratajkowski about parenting.

Following the birth of her son Angelo, who she shares with former husband Simon Konecki, 34-year-old Adele opened up to Vanity Fair about her postpartum struggles.

'One day, I said to a friend, "I f--king hate this,"' she recalled.

She explained: 'I love my son more than anything, but on a daily basis, if I have a minute or two, I wish I could do whatever the f*ck I wanted, whenever I want. Every single day I feel like that.'

During an engagement focusing on postpartum illnesses, Kate Middleton visited the Mother and Baby Unit at the Bethlehem Royal Hospital and addressed the realities of postpartum depression.

At the time, Middleton, a mum-of-three to Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, who she shares with Prince William, revealed that since becoming a parent she's experienced a 'lack of confidence' and 'feelings of ignorance'.

The duchess, who was then expecting Prince Louis, said: 'Personally, becoming a mother has been such a rewarding and wonderful experience.

'However, at times it has also been a huge challenge. Even for me who has support at home that most mothers do not.

'Nothing can really prepare you for you the sheer overwhelming experience of what it means to become a mother. It is full of complex emotions of joy, exhaustion, love, and worry, all mixed together.'

Middleton continued her speech at the unit, part of South London Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust treating postnatal depression and postpartum psychosis, by saying: 'Your fundamental identity changes overnight. You go from thinking of yourself as primarily an individual, to suddenly being a mother, first and foremost,' per People.

Model and former Victoria's Secret Angel Karlie Kloss, 30, discussed her early struggles as a first-time mum to son Levi, who she welcomed with her venture capitalist investor Joshua Kushner last year.

Speaking to WSJ. Magazine, she said she entered 'survival mode' after giving birth.

She recalled asking her husband Kushner: 'How does everyone do this?' following his birth.

And while she originally insisted that she wouldn't do the 'the mum group friendship thing', she later sought help from fellow mum friends Ashley Graham, Emily Ratajkowski Irina Shayk.

They supported her while she navigated motherhood with her hectic work schedule.

Ashley Graham had an in-depth discussion about postpartum depression with actor Shay Mitchell during her podcast Pretty Big Deal with Ashley Graham.

The mother of two-year-old Isaac, who has since had twin boys with her husband of 12 years, Justin Ervin, said she wasn't sure what to call it but went on to explain: 'Because here I am, I'm pregnant and it's not like I was trying to get pregnant or I wasn't trying. It just happened so it was a surprise.

'Then all of the sudden my emotions, my mind, my body, things that I always had control over are now totally out of whack. I can't talk to anybody about it, my husband doesn't understand but he's trying to be as supportive as possible. My mum is like, "Oh you'll be fine." I think I was spiralling a little bit and I was crying a lot.'

Pretty Little Liars alumni Shay Mitchell gave birth to a baby girl named Atlas in 2019.

After welcoming her first child with partner Matte Babel, Mitchell, 35, opened up to fellow mum Ashley Graham on the model's podcast Pretty Big Deal with Ashley Graham.

After Graham shared her struggles as a first-time mum, Mitchell said: 'I mean every single thing that you just said is exactly what I went through. My mom said the same thing, and I'd be crying to her and she'd be like, "You're just emotional, it's just the hormones." And okay cool it might be, but you don't want to hear that. Like, yes it is, if it is the hormones I'm still feeling that way. It doesn't take away from this feeling, and it's completely isolating.'

Mitchell, who previously suffered a miscarriage, also spoke in-depth about her emotions during her pregnancy, saying: 'Because of the experience I'd gone through before with the miscarriage, I didn't want to tell my closest friends that I was pregnant this time because the thought of having to go back to them after and being like, "It didn't happen this time again," was really a painful thought for me. So I just thought I'll keep it to myself for as long as possible... It was just really lonely.'

Ivanka Trump revealed that she had postpartum depression after the births of all three of her children, Arabella, 10, Joseph, eight and Theodore, five.

In an interview on The Dr. Oz Show, the daughter and former senior advisor of former US president Donald Trump said: 'It was a very challenging emotional time for me because I felt like I was not living up to my potential as a parent or as an entrepreneur and executive.

'I had had such easy pregnancies that in some way, the juxtaposition hit me even harder.'

As for how crucial the conversation surrounding postpartum depression is, she said: 'It's incredibly important.'

She continued: 'Look, I consider myself a very hard-charging person. I am ambitious. I'm passionate. I'm driven, but this is something that affects parents all over the country.'

The 40-year-old also highlighted that her decisions now 'weigh much heavier' due to her 'impacting people's lives'.

Reese Witherspoon has three children, 23-year-old Ava and 18-year-old Deacon, who she shares with former husband Ryan Phillippe, and 10-year-old Tennessee, who is her and Jim Toth's first child together.

When speaking on the I Weigh podcast, the Big Little Lies star said: 'I’ve had three kids. After each child I had a different experience.

'One kid I had kind of mild postpartum, and one kid I had severe postpartum where I had to take pretty heavy medication because I just wasn’t thinking straight at all.'

American rapper Cardi B is a mum to three-year-old daughter Kulture.

The 30-year-old, who shares her daughter with husband and fellow rapper Offset, spoke about her arduous battle after becoming a mum when speaking to Harper's Bazaar in February 2019.

'It was too hard,' she said.

The rapper later added: 'When I gave birth, the doctor told me about postpartum, and I was like, "Well, I’m doing good right now, I don’t think that’s going to happen." But out of nowhere, the world was heavy on my shoulders.'

Behati Prinsloo, who became a Victoria's Secret Angel in 2009, shared her postnatal struggles after giving birth to her and singer-songwriter husband Adam Levine's first daughter, Dusty, now six.

In 2019, the model, who's also a mum to four-year-old daughter Gio, told Porter: 'After my first baby, I had a little postpartum depression.'

'It was difficult to get back into normal life.'

She did, however, highlight that her second pregnancy was different.

'After the second one, everything felt so much easier — it was easier for me to work out … breastfeeding was easier.'

During the same interview with the publication, Prinsloo, who referred to her relationship with Levine as a 'wild ride', spoke about advocating for working mothers.

'The people I look up to the most are working MOTHERS – it’s awesome to see amazing, STRONG women with kids and a career, killing it at BOTH,' she said.

Nashville actor Hayden Panettiere spoke about her battle with postpartum depression during an episode of Live! With Kelly and Michael.

The 33-year-old actor, who is a mum to seven-year-old Kaya, said: 'There's a lot of misunderstanding, and I feel like there's a lot of people out there who think that it's not real, that it's not true, that it's something that's made up in their mind.

'It's something that's completely uncontrollable and it's really painful, and it's really scary, and women need a lot of support.'

Panettiere was treated for postpartum depression in 2015, and the following year, she tweeted: 'The postpartum depression I have been experiencing has impacted every aspect of my life.

'Rather than stay stuck due to unhealthy coping mechanisms I have chosen to take time to reflect holistically on my health and life. Wish me luck!'

Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Sarah Michelle Gellar is a mum to 13-year-old daughter Charlotte and 10-year-old son Rocky.

In May 2017, she revealed that she had suffered from postpartum depression after having Charlotte.

In a message shared to Instagram, she wrote: 'Having kids is wonderful, and life-changing, and rarely what you're prepared for.

'I love my children more than anything in the world. But like a lot of women, I too struggled with postpartum depression after my first baby was born. I got help and made it through, and every day since has been the best gift I could ever have asked for.'