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For many women, childbirth can trigger postpartum depression. Little Fires Everywhere actress, Reese Witherspoon recently talked about her struggles with depression after the birth of her firstborn, Ava Phillippe, on Jameela Jamil‘s “I Weigh” podcast.
Witherspoon was 24 years old when she first became a mom. She was married to Ryan Phillippe and shares two children with the actor. Witherspoon told Jamil that she didn’t “understand the kind of hormonal roller coaster that you go on when you stop nursing.”
Witherspoon also spoke candidly about how after each child, she had different experiences. In addition to Ava,20, Witherspoon has two other children, Deacon Phillippe, 16, and her youngest son Tennessee, 7, with husband Jim Toth. Witherspoon describes her depression with each child, “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.”
One recent study found that 1 in 7 women may experience postpartum in the year after giving birth. Like many women during postpartum, many women experience stigma and lack of guidance on how to navigate mental health and take care of their newborn. Celebrities are no different in their struggles.
Because of her experiences with postpartum depression, Witherspoon says, “I think hormones are so understudied and not understood.” She continues, “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.”
