Hollywood star Reese Witherspoon opens up on battle with depression
The actress said she first went into therapy at age 16
Reese Witherspoon has opened up on her difficult battle with post-partum depression. She says that she has had very different experiences after each birth.
The 44-year-old has two children, Ava, 20, and Deacon, 16, with ex Ryan Phillipe, and seven-year-old Tennessee with husband Jim Toth.
During an interview on a podcast, she opened up about her battles with mental health over the years, admitting she first had therapy at the age of 16.
Witherspoon said: “I definitely had anxiety. My anxiety manifests as depression so I would get really depressed. My brain is like a hamster on a wheel and it won’t come off, I’ve been managing it my entire life.”
Talking about “different experience” after each child, she said: “One kid I had kind of mild post-partum, and one kid I had severe post-partum 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 post-partum at all.”
The ‘Legally Blonde’ star explained how she was “completely out of control” after Ava was born.
She said: “We don’t understand the kind of hormonal rollercoaster that you go on when you stop nursing. No one explained that to me.
“I was 23 years old when I had my first baby and nobody explained to me that when you wean a baby, your hormones go into the toilet. I felt more depressed than I’d ever felt in my whole life. It was scary.”