While on the surface, it may seem like Gwyneth Paltrow has it all, but she’s struggled too — specifically with postpartum depression. Which shouldn’t be a surprise. Postpartum depression is something many moms struggle with silently (about 11 percent of U.S. moms suffer from symptoms of postpartum depression). Paltrow recently opened up about her experience with PPD after the birth of her second child.
The Jewish Oscar-winning actress talked to her own mother, fellow actress Blythe Danner, about the “dark place” she was in after the birth of her son, Moses, in a Goop podcast called “Gwyneth x Blythe: On Mothers and Daughters.”
The mother of two explained how it was “really shocking to me because I never thought that I would be a person who got postnatal depression.” Paltrow, now 45, also added that she didn’t experience this with her daughter, Apple, stating, “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.”
In the past, she also stated that there’s too much shame around postpartum depression when there shouldn’t be:
(My case) was low-grade enough that I didn’t have to be hospitalized, but it’s a very debilitating thing, and I think there’s so much shame around it and there shouldn’t be.
In another interview with Good Housekeeping, she mentioned feeling “like a zombie”:
I felt like a zombie. I couldn’t access my heart. I couldn’t access my emotions. I couldn’t connect … With (Apple), 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.
Paltrow is currently engaged to producer Brad Falchuk; the two are planning their wedding.
