Chrissy Teigen Reveals Battle With Postpartum Depression In New Glamour Essay
Posted on Mon Mar 6th, 2017 9:40am PDT By X17 Staff
This is proof you never know what someone is secretly struggling with!
Chrissy Teigen is coming clean about her battle with postpartum depression in a new Glamour magazine essay, and the supermodel hopes her confession can make others struggling with the disease feel less alone.
“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,'" she wrote.
Before her diagnosis, the Sports Illustrated stunner was confused as to why she was suffering from unexplained pains, was "short" with people, didn't have an appetite, and was "bursting into tears" at any moment.
Ultimately, a trip to her doc led to some clarity and healing.
"Before the holidays I went to my general practitioner for a physical. John sat next to me. I looked at my doctor, and my eyes welled up because I was so tired of being in pain. Of sleeping on the couch. Of waking up throughout the night. Of throwing up. Of taking things out on the wrong people. Of not enjoying life. Of not seeing my friends. Of not having the energy to take my baby for a stroll. My doctor pulled out a book and started listing symptoms. And I was like, ‘Yep, yep, yep.’ I got my diagnosis: postpartum depression and anxiety. (The anxiety explains some of my physical symptoms,)" she continued.
Her recovery didn't happen overnight, though.
“I remember being so exhausted but happy to know that we could finally get on the path of getting better. John had that same excitement. I started taking an antidepressant, which helped. And I started sharing the news with friends and family — I felt like everyone deserved an explanation, and I didn’t know how else to say it other than the only way I know: just saying it," she explained.
What surprised her most is simply that it happened to her, even though she has a charmed life and lots of support from family and friends.
"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," she confessed.
So why did she feel the need to tell the world about her very personal struggle?
“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. 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. This has become my open letter," she concluded.
We applaud her bravery!