Halle Bailey has experienced ‘severe’ postpartum depression since welcoming son Halo
Opening up about postpartum depression, Halle Bailey admits social media and the rumor mill’s toll on her mental health after welcoming her first son with DDG.
Halle Bailey never thought postpartum depression was anything serious; then, she had her first child.
In a now-expired video posted to Snapchat and Instagram on April 16, the “Little Mermaid” star opened up about experiencing “severe” postpartum depression after giving birth to her son Halo with rapper DDG last year.
“I have severe, severe postpartum [depression], and I don’t know if any new moms can relate, but it’s to the point where it’s really bad, and it’s hard for me to be separated from my baby for more than 30 minutes at a time before I start to kind of freak out,” the actress explained, per People.
Bailey noted that before she had her child, whenever she’d hear anything about postpartum depression, “it would kind of just go in one ear and out the other.”
“I didn’t realize how serious of a thing it actually was,” she said. “Now, going through it, it almost feels like you’re swimming in this ocean that’s like the biggest waves you’ve ever felt, and you’re trying not to drown. And you’re trying to come up for air.”
Postpartum depression is a mood disorder that can occur after someone has given birth, impacting roughly one in eight mothers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Linked to hormonal fluctuations as well as potential external factors, symptoms and severity of the condition can range from mild depression, apathy, and difficulty focusing to feelings of worthlessness and suicidal ideation, notes the National Library of Medicine. As Bailey mentioned in her video, the condition is often met with stigmas that can make it harder to be moved to get help, especially for Black mothers.
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In addition to feeling the weight of stigma following months of online speculation about her pregnancy, Bailey also noted how her body and self-image have been impacted by the birth of her son.
“Halo is a miracle. He is perfect. He is beautiful. When I look at him, I cry because of how special he is. The only thing that’s been hard for me is feeling normal in my own body,” she said. “I feel like a completely different person. When I look in the mirror, I just feel like I’m in a whole new body. Like, I don’t know who I am.”
Thankfully, Bailey said, she has a strong support system through her family and DDG, who she said is the “most amazing daddy in the world.”
However, the new mom kept it real, admitting that feeling “triggered” while scrolling through online hate directed at her and her loved ones brought on the post.
“I guess today I was just triggered — especially [since] social media is just not a good thing to be on when you have postpartum — but I was just really triggered today, especially by seeing some of the things that have been said about me and my family, and the one that I love and the ones that I love,” she said.
Bailey closed her video by noting that being in the public eye doesn’t make her any more immune to harsh criticism from others.
She said, “You never know what somebody else is going through, especially someone who just had a baby literally.”
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