Serena Williams Opens up About Her Postpartum Depression – Here’s Her Advice to Other Mums

InspirationJuly 3, 2019

Williams’ Honest Revelation

After the birth of Olympia, Serena Williams took to her Instagram page to talk about how inadequate she felt as a new mom. According to her, she didn’t feel like she was being a good mom to her baby.

The reality of Serena’s situation goes to show that regardless of a person’s status, no one is naturally above a postpartum slump. Serena wrote that she read diverse articles stating that postpartum emotions could last for as long as 3 years if it isn’t handled. Since she loves to air her feelings, she talked things through with her mom, sisters, and friends and they told her that her feelings were not out of place.

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Speaking with family and friends helped Serena understand her feelings were not strange

Serena has never held back on her challenges with motherhood right from the start. In a cover story for Vogue last year, she talked about how difficult the birth of baby Olympia was. In one of her HBO documentary series, she saw pumping and constantly breastfeeding between her training sessions and opened up about her fear of being unable to produce enough milk for Olympia.

In her message to her Instagram followers, she spoke about the challenges women sometimes go through after childbirth. She admitted that it is totally normal that she feels she isn’t doing enough for her baby.

Research Confirms Serena’s View

Serena is right about her view as several women feel that same way. Studies have revealed that one of seven women actually have postpartum depression and 10% of new mothers suffer from a less popular postpartum anxiety. Postpartum anxiety occurs where panic attacks and fretful thoughts get mixed with feelings of postpartum disorder, and that ranges from sadness and hopelessness to suicidal thoughts.

Things are now changing as more women particularly celebrities that have large follower base are becoming more honest and open about their motherhood experiences, especially mood disorders.

Brooke Shields was one of the very first popular women to speak about the condition as far back as 2005 openly. Gwyneth Paltrow, Adele, and Drew Barrymore are some of the celebrities who have opened up about their postpartum experiences.

Speaking Up About PPD

Taking it one rung higher in 2017, Chrissy Teigen wrote an essay about her postpartum depression struggles after her daughter’s birth. Teigen said she intended to write a letter to her employers and friends explaining the reason for her unhappiness. She added that the mental pain she got from knowing she had let several people down was far worse than the pain she felt physically.

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Chrissy Teigen opened up about her postpartum depression struggles in a 2017 article

Teigen, however, admitted that when she began sharing her experiences, things started getting easier. She noted that she still doesn’t like saying she has postpartum depression and that’s because the idea of depression gets several people scared. Teigen advised people to be more open about the condition as it would likely help reduce the stigma attached to it.