Reese Witherspoon is getting real!
The momma of three is opening up about her history of anxiety and depression with Jameela Jamil in an episode of the I Weigh podcast which premiered on Friday.
Related: Reese Says Ava Applying To College Was ‘Like An Arrow In The Heart’
The 44-year-old candidly shared:
“I definitely had anxiety, my anxiety manifests as depression so I would get really depressed. My brain is like a hamster on a wheel and it won’t come off. I’ve been managing it my entire life.”
Witherspoon unveiled that she began going to therapy when she was 16, but her mental health unfortunately took a turn for the worse when she became a mom.
“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. And then I had one kid where I had no postpartum at all.”
Wow! This proves that every parenting experience can be so different.
As you’re aware, the Little Fires Everywhere star shares 20-year-old daughter Ava and 16-year-old son Deacon with her ex Ryan Phillippe. She is also a momma to 7-year-old Tennessee with husband Jim Toth.
Specifically, she was “completely” out of control after giving birth to Ava at 23:
“We don’t understand the kind of hormonal roller coaster that you go on when you stop nursing. No one explained that to me. I was 23 years old when I had my first baby and nobody explained to me that when you wean a baby, your hormones go into the toilet. I felt more depressed than I’d ever felt in my whole life. It was scary.”
She added:
“I think hormones are so understudied and not understood. I kept reaching out to my doctors for answers, there just isn’t enough research about what happens to women’s bodies and the hormonal shifts that we have aren’t taken as seriously as I think they should be.”
You can say that again!
When she became a mom for the first time, she didn’t have “the type of communication we have now” with her mother, who worked as a pediatric nurse for 35 years and had always been open about mental health. Reese explained:
“I didn’t have the right kind of guidance or help, I just white-knuckled back.”
The Big Little Lies star continued:
“I have deep compassion for women who are going through that. Postpartum is very real.”
Thanks for being so open, Reese! We’re sure this helps other moms who are struggling feel more confident about sharing their experience.
[Image via WENN/Instar & Reese Witherspoon/Instagram.]
Related Posts
