Postpartum depression

Courtesy Life & Style for use on CBB

In an new interview with Life & Style, Gena Lee Nolin, 37, opens up for the first time about her long struggle with postpartum depression (PPD).

“It’s a roller coaster of emotion,” she says. “It’s so intense and comes on so quickly. Your hormones are completely out of whack.”

Unfortunately, the feelings of despair that came with her third delivery — daughter Stella Monroe arrived last December — were painfully familiar: Gena had experienced PPD following the birth of her sons, Spencer, 12, and Hudson Lee, 3.

“It was really hard with the first one because I didn’t see it coming,” Gena explains. “I couldn’t figure out why I was so sad when I had this beautiful, healthy baby and a great job. Baywatch was the No. 1 show in the world at that time. I had nothing to be upset about. I thought I was nuts.”

But when her uncontrollable crying didn’t stop after six months, Gena, who was married to Greg Fahlman at the time, knew she needed help. So the actress sought guidance from a counselor and spent seven months on a low dose of antidepressants.

Click below to read about Gena’s struggle with PPD after her subsequent pregnancies.
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Courtesy Health

In the June issue of Health magazine, Brooke Shields says that the biggest myth of marriage is that love conquers all. “It’s not practical,” the 43-year-old actress explains. “Without love, I don’t think it’s possible, but it’s not the only thing.” For example, Brooke points out that a couple with “completely different views” on how to raise their children have the odds stacked against them, regardless of the love they may feel for one another.  She adds,

“Love can produce the children, but it has nothing to do with the raising of the children. I grew up thinking, ‘Oh, that’s it. All I have to do is fall in love.’ You may think love will change everything, but it really is different with children. Children don’t necessarily bring you together, they challenge you.”

Taking time out of her busy day for husband Chris Henchy is a priority for Brooke, and in turn, it was Chris who convinced Brooke to take time out for herself. “I used to do a million different things when I was breastfeeding, and finally my husband was like, ‘What are you doing? Don’t you think you’re missing out?’” Brooke — mom to Rowan Francis, 6, and Grier Hammond, 3 — reveals. “I thought I was being productive, and it wasn’t until I stopped doing all that, and…I’m gonna start to cry. But, watching her little cheeks go in and out, that’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“And I took a deep breath, and my milk came in more. I have to remind myself all the time, things are just too busy.”

To that end, Brooke says her life is “as balanced as it’s going to be.” When she is feeling overwhelmed, it is exercise that “reinvigorates” her, but finding time for a hike in the hills isn’t always easy; The loss of freedom many women lament after welcoming a child is one that Brooke can identify with. However, Brooke questions the accuracy of her memory! “I sort of think, how often did I really do it? How spontaneous was I really?” she asks. “Part of what I think I miss is this fantasy of my wild days [laughs], but they never existed!”

Click below to read about Brooke’s reconciliation with Tom Cruise.

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When a mother’s firstborn enters kindergarten, it can be tough for all involved. For Brooke Shields and daughter Rowan Frances, 6 this month, however, the tears were a one-way street. “There was no separation anxiety on her part, just mine,” Brooke tells Babble Australia. “She was like, ‘Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.’”

“It was almost as if she was saying, ‘And you are . . .? Oh right, my mother. We’ve met, haven’t we?’”

The differences between Rowan and her little sister Grier Hammond, 3, are stark. So much so, Brooke says that her daughters “are the antithesis of one another.” Whereas Rowan is “very analytical” and prefers to “think things through,” Grier often acts out of “pure emotion,” Brooke says. “You can’t really raise your voice to her to prove your authority, because she’ll just crumble,” she explains. “Rowan will sort of smarten up and look at you and think, ‘Okay, I get it. The stakes are really high. I’m going to now listen because Mom’s serious.’”

While Grier skipped over the terrible twos, it looks as though the terrible threes are on her horizon! “I can tell she’s about to enter that phase,” Brooke concedes. “Then again, she would almost like to get back into the womb as well.” While the 43-year-old actress considers herself “a blend” of the two, she suspects that she’s “more like Rowan” because both are ”very aware of how things sound and how they seem.” She elaborates,

“Like me, Rowan is self-aware at a very young age. Grier could care less about being liked. Whatever she wants is what she wants and it’s the most important thing. She doesn’t believe in softening her response. Rowan is like, ‘Okay, how do I navigate this?’”

Click below to read about Brooke’s thoughts on the girls entering showbiz.

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Bauer Griffin

Following her stint on Dancing with the Stars three seasons ago, singer Marie Osmond joined forces with her brother Donny Osmond to perform at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. When she agreed to take the stage in Las Vegas, the 49-year-old knew that the only way that it would work was if she brought her family with her. Marie packed up and moved to Las Vegas with her six youngest children — Rachel Lauren, 19, Michael Brian, 17, Brandon Warren, 12, Brianna Patricia, 11, Matthew Richard, 9 and Abigail Michelle, 6.

Prior to agreeing to do the show, Marie checked to make sure that the community the family would be living in would be a good one. “Where I live in Las Vegas, it feels more like Orange County than the Strip. It is a very nice family community,” says Marie, adding that “I had to know this to be a great place for my children.” Now that the Donny & Marie show has been extended for two more years, Marie is also turning her focus to creating a new television talk show. However, she will not be moving to the West or East coast, but instead will keep her family based in Vegas because “I am a single mom.”

“It is important I am with them in the morning to get them off to school. While they are in school, I will go do the show and be home when they get back. I can give them dinner and put them to bed and then head off to the Flamingo to do my show. So, we are sure it is Vegas.”

Marie is not only a performer, but she is also a writer. After suffering through postpartum depression, Marie partnered with Marcia Wilkie and Dr. Judith Moore to write the book Behind the Smile in 1999. In her interview with Los Angeles Times, Marcia was asked if she agreed with Tom Cruise’s statements regarding the use of anti-depressants to overcome postpartum depression, to which she replied that “My book was way before that. For me, all I could do was get out of bed, wash my face and go back to bed.” However, “I think nutrition has a lot to do with depression. But I also believe if you can’t get out of bed, if your life is darker than dark, you need something to help you through. So I can’t say I agree with everything he said.”

Marie is also mom to Stephen James, 25, and Jessica Marie, 21.

Source: Los Angeles Times

Brenda Chase/Getty

Former B*Witched singer and current TV presenter Sinéad O’Carroll considers motherhood to four-week-old daughter Samarah a "dream come true" and feels "like she’s always been here, I just can’t imagine my life without her." While Sinéad loves being a mom, she believed that after giving birth, she would be back to her normal self in no time. However, she learned differently. "I went into hospital at about 5 a.m. on Saturday and she was delivered at 10:48 p.m. that night in Mount Carmel hospital," shared the 35-year-old, adding that "she needed a little help in the end, I think it’s because I have such a small frame but the staff there were just brilliant." After the birth Sinéad came to a new realization:

"Everyone focuses on the whole labor part of pregnancy but I found recovering afterwards quite hard. It’s mad how it takes a while to feel normal again, you’re completely exhausted and I just felt very uncomfortable."

Now that Sinéad is "getting [back to her old self] slowly," she is loving motherhood more and more. She shared that her little girl has "got a great pair of vocal cords on her, she can really scream her head off" but that "she’s quiet enough though … she actually sleeps more in the nighttime than during the day which is great. She’s a very content baby." While Samarah may have her mother’s voice, she did inherit her looks from dad Michael Rahman.

"She’s the image of Michael, she really is. I didn’t get a look in."

Source: Herald

Evan Agostini/AP

For many women, entering the world of motherhood and facing everything from sweet kisses to sticky fingers, their nervous inclinations are often calmed by their own mother’s guidance. Growing up with a "great mom" who maintained a certain "grace about her" throughout her life, Angelina Jolie shares that after becoming a mother herself, she constantly tried to "study and learn" from her own, Marcheline. "She was the kind of person who loved being a mom" says Angelina, who goes on to say that she does not "wish for anything other than that." With a life that could make luxuries and relaxation number one, Angelina instead says that her priorities revolve around her six children — Maddox Chivan, 7, Pax Thien, 4 ½, Zahara Marley, 3 ½, Shiloh Nouvel, 2, and Knox Léon and Vivienne Marcheline, 3 months — who every day bring the star "so much joy and peace." While Marcheline kept Angelina centered in the past, these days Angelina turns to her kids after a rough day and admits that she "can have the worst day in the world," but the second she walks through her front door, she is met by her children who seem to make all of her other worries fade away as they "think I’m great."

"They love me. They come to me when they get hurt. I feel like the most important person in the world — and I’ve got that! Anybody who has love in their life has that."

Taking the time to share the joys of having twins, Angelina calls the two newest additions to the Jolie-Pitt family "the sweetest little things." With the experience of welcoming only one child to the family at a time and then giving birth to twins, the 33-year-old can’t fathom how, in the past, each baby wasn’t lonely! "There’s that great thing where you wonder, how it almost seemed lonely for one because you got them together," explains Angelina, who is pleased that her youngest children will "always have each other." In addition to the babies interacting with each other — Angelina shares that they "they put their hands on each other" and are "starting to smile a lot" — the actress has managed to make handling two babies a bit easier by keeping the pair "pretty much on a schedule." Choosing to breastfeed as she did with Shiloh, Angelina — who jokes the decision allows her some "breaks in my day" — says they eat every three hours, although with recent trips to Germany, New York, and New Orleans, they are understandably "a little jet-lagged right now." As for their budding personalities, while it is "so hard to know early on," Angelina reveals that "Knox is very chill [and] likes music" and "Viv’s more aggressive and loud." With six kids — and hints at more in the future — Angelina realizes that she, along with her partner Brad Pitt, are "very lucky" that they have been blessed with such great kids, as she shares her tip on having a big family.

"The trick in having six is, once you pass three or four, it gets so crazy, anyway, that there’s just more chaos — and it’s okay."

Click ‘more’ to read about Angelina’s thoughts on PPD rumors, dealing with the paparazzi, and her children’s way of coping with frequent traveling!

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It’s a busy, bad day in the Lopez-Anthony household — Jennifer Lopez has a bug she caught from her infant daughter and is also interviewing nannies. There’s none of the typical accoutrements the public has come to expect from the former J. Lo; instead, she wears no makeup and as her unwashed hair pulled back into a ponytail. "I’m trying out my first [nanny] today," she whispers to the reporter. "But I still can’tstand the sound of my babies crying without tending to them myself." With that, Jennifer heads upstairs and returns with her 7 ½-month-old twins Max David — clad in a black sequined onesie — and Emme Maribel, who has her ears pierced.

Although she is feeling sick the day of the interview, Jennifer says she has been doing well adjusting to parenthood, but admits to hitting a rough patch in the weeks immediately following the twins’ delivery. "At the tenth day after giving birth all that chemical stuff did peak –that hormone thing — and I did cry a lot that day because I was havingso much trouble moving," she explains.

"I had a c-section. Have you everseen a c-section? I told them I didn’t want to know anything, butafterwards they told me they had cut six layers. That’s why you can’twalk afterwards. I couldn’t get up fast enough to feed the babies. Itwent on for about three days. Marc was helping out a lot and I wascrying and crying and going, ‘Oh, Papi … they’re going to knoweverybody more than me.’"

Miming herself crying, Jennifer accidentally wakes up a sleeping Emme, who had been dozing in her arms. "Don’t worry, baby. I was just acting," she tells her daughter. "Mommy is an actress and she does dramatic things."

Source: The Daily Beast

Big Pictures/Bauer Griffin

In a Wednesday appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Gwyneth Paltrow spoke about her battle with postpartum depression following the birth of son Moses, 2, and how her good friend (and fellow mom!) Madonna ultimately came to her rescue. After welcoming her first child, 4-year-old Apple Blythe Alison, Gwyneth was "on cloud nine" and "living in a bubble" — a phenomenon she characterized as "postnatal euphoria." When Moses arrived, the 35-year-old actress expected more of the same but was devastated when her emotional response had changed. Instead of happiness Gwyneth says she felt disconnected — from herself, and from those around her.

"He came out and I was like, ‘This is really strange. It’s not the same. What’s wrong with me?’ Then, I just went down kind of a slippery slope with it. I didn’t realize what was wrong with me…I wish I had known because I would have gone on medication or addressed it in some way or done something."

One evening over dinner with Madonna — herself mom to Lourdes, 11, Rocco, 8 and David, turning 3 next week — Gwyneth got the perspective she’d been looking for after her friend pointed out that "when obstacles come up in our life, it’s for a very specific reason: to teach us something that we haven’t learned yet." A grateful Gwyneth credits Madonna with helping her to see the "bigger picture" and to view her postpartum depression as "an opportunity to change certain things" about her life. "[Madonna] really sort of reorganized my molecules in that situation," Gwyneth says.

Click ‘more’ to read about Gwyneth’s postpartum weightloss, and her thoughts on Madonna’s children.

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Portraying a mom suffering from postpartum depression proved to be emotionally draining for Coronation Street star Julia Haworth. It also left the 29-year-old actress wondering whether she would have a similar experience after welcoming her daughter Sophia Elizabeth, 6 weeks. "No one’s immune," Julia points out in a new interview with The Mirror, "but I hoped I’d be OK…luckily I am." While labor was long and difficult Sophia arrived "safe and well and that’s the main thing," Julia says. "She was worth it…I’d go through every second again." That sunny outlook extends even to her pregnancy, a state of being that Julia says she "loved."

"When people said I was blooming and blossoming, I took it as a compliment…I didn’t mind my body changing. As I got bigger I really celebrated it because it meant the baby was growing and was healthy."

Adding that she wants to be "the best mum in the world," Julia says Sophia is "the center of my life now." She is the first child for Julia and her husband Jon Wormald.

Source: The Mirror

A bout with postpartum depression following the birth by C-section of her first child, 5-year-old Erin, has left comedian and actress Catherine Tate, 40, hesitant to have another baby. She reportedly tells Now magazine that "I hope it won’t stop me [having another child], but it does worry me." Still, Catherine suspects that she and partner Twig Clark will eventually pursue parenthood a second time. Says Catherine,

I want one because I wouldn’t like Erin to be an only child. 

Catherine most recently appeared on the UK television series Dr. Who.

Source: Bounty News via Now; Photo by Z. Tomaszewski/WENN.