Chrissy Teigen has revealed that she has battled postpartum depression since the birth of her daughter last year.
The former Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover model and singer John Legend welcomed a baby girl, Luna, in April. She writes in an essay for Glamour magazine that she has been “unhappy” for much of the last year and discovered she was suffering from postpartum depression in December.
She writes in the essay:
When I wasn’t in the studio, I never left the house. I mean, never. Not even a tiptoe outside. I’d ask people who came inside why they were wet. Was it raining? How would I know—I had every shade closed. Most days were spent on the exact same spot on the couch and rarely would I muster up the energy to make it upstairs for bed. John would sleep on the couch with me, sometimes four nights in a row. I started keeping robes and comfy clothes in the pantry so I wouldn’t have to go upstairs when John went to work. There was a lot of spontaneous crying. …. I also just didn’t think it could happen to me. 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. … Plenty of people around the world in my situation have no help, no family, no access to medical care. I can’t imagine not being able to go to the doctors that I need. It’s hurtful to me to know that we have a president who wants to rip health care away from women. I look around every day and I don’t know how people do it. I’ve never had more respect for mothers, especially mothers with postpartum depression.
Teigen writes that she had difficulty after returning to work as a co-host of the syndicated “Lip Sync Battle.” She says she is now taking an antidepressant for the depression and anxiety and is also in therapy.
Read the full essay here.
Contributing: Sun-Times staff reporter Miriam Di Nunzio
