The dark reason Kristen Bell is "very bubbly all the time"

by

Sara McGinnis

posted in Celebrities

We all know Kristen Bell as beautiful, bright and funny, but it turns out there's more going on with this mom of two than first meets the eye.

"I shatter a little bit when I think people don’t like me,” the mother of Lincoln and Delta shared during an interview with Off Camera. "That’s part of why I lead with kindness and I compensate by being very bubbly all the time because it really hurts my feelings when I’m not liked. I know that’s not very healthy and I fight it all the time."

Though she was popular in high school, in hindsight Kristen says she "was always nervous right under the surface that someone would reject me -- so I changed who I was often. I changed my interests based on what my friends liked."

The Bad Moms star went on to share that struggles with anxiety and depression runs in her family.

"There is a serotonin imbalance in our family line," Kristen Bell explained.

"[My mom's] a nurse and she had the wherewithal to recognize that in herself when she was feeling it, and when I was 18 said, 'If you start to feel like you are twisting things around you, and you feel like there is no sunlight around you and you are paralyzed with fear, this is what it is.'"

“I got on a prescription when I was really young and I still take it today and I have no shame in that because my mom had said to me, 'If you start to feel this way, talk to your doctor, talk to a psychologist, see how you want to help yourself.'"

In a point I couldn't agree more with, the 35-year-old added, "If you do decide to go on a prescription to help yourself, understand that the world wants to shame you for that, but in the medical community, you would never deny a diabetic his insulin."

Like many, many other families out there, depression has crept into our lives at times as well. For me it's just been in recent years, and I only started taking an SSRI a few months ago. So far, I don't feel ashamed to be doing so, but then again I have been selective about who I've told -- and I'm a bit nervous to be writing this to you all right now.

I suppose it's one thing to believe there shouldn't be any stigma surrounding taking care of mental health with a prescription, and another thing to step up and say you're actively doing it. But hey, there's no time like the present to get started, right?

Has depression or anxiety been something you've dealt with? How do you feel about it?

Join the conversation

Photos: PR Photos

 

More celebrity moms who've opened up about their struggles, in our gallery of quotes on postpartum depression:

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)