Gwyneth Paltrow Compares Postpartum Depression to Being a Zombie

on January 4, 2011 at 1:15 PM

Gwyneth Paltrow has never tried to hide her experience with postpartum depression, but she recently opened up to Good Housekeeping with a brave honesty to bring more awareness to the disease. While her first pregnancy with daughter Apple was fine, it was after her son Moses was born in 2006 that she was hit hard by it. She said it was difficult to come to terms with just how different the two experiences were.

She credits her husband, Chris Martin, with spotting the signs and eventually convincing her to get help. She describes how about four months into her ordeal he kept telling her something was wrong, but she kept trying to convince him and herself that she was fine. She wasn't.

"I felt like a zombie," she said. "I couldn't access my heart. I couldn't access my emotions. I couldn't connect."

She said she didn't know enough about the disease beforehand to know that she had symptoms of it.

"I thought postpartum depression meant you were sobbing every single day and incapable of looking after a child," she explains. "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."

She echoes the feelings of so many women who have experienced the disease, and it's great to see her talking about it so openly. All too often women feel shame over the disease and don't want anyone to think they're a horrible mother or that they can't handle their children. Seeing strong celebrities like Paltrow speaking out about her personal experiences is good for all women and part of one of the most important steps to identifying and treating postpartum depression -- awareness.

Have you experienced postpartum depression? Did you experience feelings similar to those Paltrow describes?

About the author Julie Ryan Evans

can be found writing from coffee houses wherever she may be. The quality of her days is largely influenced by the seat she nabs and whether a protein plate is available.

Filed Under: a mom's life, celebrity kids, child care, postpartum recovery

Comments (7)

thedgoddess

on Jan 4, 2011 at 1:21 PM

I didn't have time to experience it the first time, I got preggers so fast. The second time though, after a very traumatic pregnancy and birth, it was AWFUL. I was in bad shape, ended up in therapy for over a year. I look back and am glad the husband saw it right away.

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billsfan1104

on Jan 4, 2011 at 1:43 PM

Is she blaming her PPD on her asshole comments she made abotu the USA, while living in England?? I feel bad about people who suffer through this awful awful disease. But she is generally a bitch and I will never see any of her movies, nor support her in anything she does, since she made those awful comments about the United States. A country that gives her the right to be a nasty shrew.

MadelynMc

on Jan 4, 2011 at 2:07 PM

Yes and it's exactly as she described it. I felt like I couldn't feel any emotion and also just paralyzed. Like I couldn't even achieve one single productive thing in a day.

Mommy2Mal

on Jan 4, 2011 at 2:55 PM

Luckily, I haven't, but because I've had to face depression outside of pregnancy it's something that I (and those around me) are always on the lookout for.

Wingra3

on Jan 4, 2011 at 4:45 PM

Hmmm. Had my 3rd 5 months ago and I guess I don't know the difference between feeling overwhelmed with 2 older kids and an infant and PPD. I feel detached, but everything that needs to get done gets done...or close enough. So, how do you know if you're a zombie because your baby isn't sleeping and your managing the house/schedules of other kids or if it's PPD. I assumed there would be more tears with PPD....instead I'm just more numb.

Nonmember comment from Heather

on Jan 4, 2011 at 4:58 PM

I have two daughters and have two bouts of PPD. I never cried or was overly weepy. I was angry and full of rage though. Exhaustion is normal with children (mine are 14 months apart), but what I was feeling was beyond the acceptable norm of tiredness. I couldn't function. Getting out of the house, getting dressed, getting out of bed some times was insurmountable. All forms of depression have different forms....my ppd was more generalized anxiety disorder. I couldn't leave my house, but it was sure spotlessly clean. I felt horrible for the the longest time and blogged about my experience endlessly. It was through medication and therapy and an extremely helpful family that I was able to come out the other end. My ppd was so bad we opted to have only two children. I certainly wanted more, but I wasn't willing to put my children, my family or myself through that hell ever again. Today, almost three years later, I have a wonderful family and healthy well adjusted children. My having ppd didn't hurt them. I got the help I needed and didn't let anyone tell me I was 'bad' or 'wrong'.

pinkiebling

on Jan 4, 2011 at 7:35 PM

Haven't had PPD, but that's how my "regular" depression often feels. You wouldn't think that a state of numbness would be painful, but it is - terribly so.