Model and TV presenter Chrissy Teigen has spoken publicly for the first time about her postnatal depression following the birth of her daughter Luna last year.
The US star, the wife of singer John Legend, has described how she has experienced severe back and wrist pain, as well as struggling with eating and her work commitments since welcoming her “perfect” daughter in April.
In an open letter in US Glamour, Teigen said she discovered she had postnatal depression in December and had decided to speak out now in order to let people know that the condition, also called postpartum depression, “can happen to anybody”.
She said that for long periods of time she was unable to leave the house, shutting herself away in the dark and barely moving from “the exact same spot” all day.
It was her return to work on TV show Lip Sync Battle four months after giving birth to Luna that made her realise she was “different than before”.
Teigen wrote: “I had everything I needed to be happy. And yet, for much of the last year, I felt unhappy. What basically everyone around me – but me – knew up until December was this: I have postpartum depression.
“How can I feel this way when everything is so great? I’ve had a hard time coming to terms with that, and I hesitated to even talk about this, as everything becomes such a ‘thing’.”
Teigen, also a Sports Illustrated model and author, is known for being a prominent celebrity voice on social media and openly shares her views on topics including politics, food and her marriage.
But she said she found it difficult to speak about her postnatal depression because she felt “selfish, icky and weird” to admit she was struggling.
She wrote: “I have a great life. I have all the help I could need: John, my mother (who lives with us), a nanny.
“But postpartum does not discriminate. I couldn’t control it. And that’s part of the reason it took me so long to speak up: I felt selfish, icky, and weird saying aloud that I’m struggling. Sometimes I still do.”
She said she is now taking an antidepressant and is also in therapy.
“I’m speaking up now because I want people to know it can happen to anybody and I don’t want people who have it to feel embarrassed or to feel alone,” she wrote.
“I also don’t want to pretend like I know everything about postpartum depression, because it can be different for everybody.
“But one thing I do know is that – for me – just merely being open about it helps.”
Teigen said she was “grateful” to those around her, including husband Legend and her colleagues, for helping her over the past year.
She signed off the letter: “Phew! I’ve hated hiding this from you.”
christine teigen (@chrissyteigen)Important note: please don't feel like you have to tiptoe around me! It is the most uncomfortable feeling ahhhh only downside to sharing PPD
March 6, 2017
