Hayden Panettiere: "There is no 'overcoming' postpartum depression"

by

Carolyn Robertson

posted in Celebrities

Actress Hayden Panettiere was among the stars at last week's Critics’ Choice Awards, making her first public appearance since she announced that she had entered a treatment facility to seek help for postpartum depression in October.

The stunning mom used her red carpet return to talk about her diagnosis, and why she felt it was so important to be open and honest about her experience with PPD.

"I didn't even think about overcoming it," Hayden, whose daughter Kaya was born in December 2014, explains. "There is no overcoming. The only important thing to me is that I'm not causing myself pain and discomfort anymore, and I can be a strong woman for my daughter to look up to."

Little Kaya isn't the only one who admires Hayden's strength and honesty. She says she was "floored" by the support and encouragement she received after speaking out about her postpartum struggle. It's not a role she envisioned for herself, but the 29-year-old says she's "so proud to be a spokesperson" for other women who are going through PPD.

"It made my life better," she says of sharing her story. "I do feel and hope it’s made other people’s lives better and more of an understanding because postpartum depression was not something that I ever understood. You could never understand it unless you have a personal involvement with it. I didn’t realize how much of a stigma it had about it."

She adds that she felt "really happy I could stand up for the women who are out there suffering from this and let them know it’s OK, they’re not alone. It doesn’t mean they’re weak. It doesn’t mean they’re a bad mom. It doesn’t mean they’re strange and that they could get help if they need it."

I'm glad that Hayden decided to be so forthright about having postpartum depression. She could have quite easily sought treatment quietly, and of course that would have been her right. We're not owed any insight into her very personal struggles. She didn't, though. Instead, she has used her own painful experience to force PPD into the spotlight, and that can only help other women who are struggling.

I was one of those women, like so many other moms. I think I understand what Hayden means when she says that "there is no overcoming" postpartum depression. When you are in the throes of PPD, it's difficult to think about beating or conquering it. You feel empty of any will to fight, or to do anything at all other than to simply survive; to continue to stand up and to breathe.

My symptoms are long gone, but I feel that in some small way my experience with PPD will always be a part of me, because it's forever entangled with my experience of having children and becoming a mother.

Do you know someone who went through postpartum depression?

These famous moms tell their stories of PPD:

Brooke Shields: The mom-of-two penned a memoir, Down Came the Rain, about her struggle with postpartum depression. She recalled contemplating suicide as she stared out the window of her NYC apartment: "I really didn't want to live anymore.... [I thought], 'I just want to leap out of my life,' but then the rational side of me [would say], 'You're only on the fourth floor. You'll get broken to bits and then you will be even worse.'" (PR Photos)

Courteney Cox: "I went through a really hard time - not right after the baby, but when she turned six months," she told USA Today, admitting to having had suicidal thoughts. "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." (INFPhoto.com)

Melissa Rycroft: "I was just going through the motions and I just couldn't figure out why if I had everything in the world to be happy and thankful for, I just couldn't feel happy," she told Celebrity Baby Scoop. "The doctor actually said that was classic postpartum depression but we just don't hear about it." (PR Photos)

Alanis Morissette: “The degree and intensity of my post-natal depression shocked me.... I hadn’t realized the depths to which you can ache — limbs, back, torso, head, everything hurt — and it went on for 15 months. I felt as if I was covered in tar and everything took 50 times more effort than normal. I wished I could have cried but there was no relief during that time." (INFPhoto.com)

Lisa Rinna: "It's very, very scary and vulnerable. I had visions of knives and guns. I made Harry hide all the sharp knives and take the gun out of the house because I had visions of killing everybody. Now how horrific is that? I wanted share it because I think women are so shamed by this and feel so horrible... I found help and got through it." (INFPhoto.com)

Bryce Dallas Howard: "It is strange for me to recall what I was like at that time. I seemed to be suffering emotional amnesia. I couldn’t genuinely cry, or laugh, or be moved by anything. For the sake of those around me, including my son, I pretended, but when I began showering again in the second week, I let loose in the privacy of the bathroom, water flowing over me as I heaved uncontrollable sobs." (PR Photos)

Gwyneth Paltrow: “I couldn’t connect with my son the way that I had with my daughter and I couldn’t understand why. I couldn’t connect to anyone. I felt like a zombie. I felt very detached. I just didn’t know what was wrong with me.... My husband [Chris Martin] actually said, ‘Something’s wrong. I think you have postnatal depression.’"(REX USA)

Marie Osmond: "When I had postpartum, I remember vividly driving that car and thinking ... how people would be better off without me," she told Oprah Winfrey. "I really believed that." (PR Photos)

Kendra Wilkinson: “It got pretty bad, [but] not to the point where I would harm my family. I was a great mom and did what I needed to, but I was definitely very depressed. [Motherhood is] a big change in life and it happened overnight.” (PR Photos)

Britney Spears: Her mom Lynn Spears confirmed rumors that Britney suffered from PPD, writing in her book Through the Storm, "Having two children within a year of each other would be overwhelming for any woman. She had post-natal depression. Added to her broken-hearted spirit over the end of her marriage to Kevin and the enormous pressures of her career, it brought her to breaking point." (REX USA)

Amanda Peet: "I had a fairly serious postpartum depression. I think it was because I had a really euphoric pregnancy," she told Gotham magazine, adding, "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.’"

Hayden Panettiere: “When [you’re told] about postpartum depression you think it’s ‘I feel negative feelings towards my child, I want to injure or hurt my child’ — I’ve never, ever had those feelings. Some women do," she said. "But you don’t realize how broad of a spectrum you can really experience that on. It’s something that needs to be talked about. Women need to know that they’re not alone, and that it does heal.” The Nashville star entered a treatment facility to seek help for her PPD when her daughter Kaya was 10 months old. (REX USA)

Photos: PR Photos