LOS ANGELES: Hollywood star Reese Witherspoon has candidly discussed her experience with depression, revealing that she struggled with the mental health condition both as a teenager and later after becoming a mother.
Speaking to Harper’s Bazaar, the Morning Show actress shared that her grandmother, Dorothea, also battled depression — something her mother warned could be hereditary.
“She had been this well-educated woman who was then left alone with two little kids while her husband went to work,” Reese explained. “She got really depressed. My mom was honest with me and said, ‘You need to be careful. This could be genetic.’”
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After the birth of her daughter Ava, Reese said her depression intensified. “In the first six months, I was simultaneously happy and depressed. I just cried all the time, I was up all night, I was exhausted. It was a hormone drop I didn’t expect, which I experienced right after birth and again when I stopped nursing six months later,” she said.
Reflecting on her early motherhood years, the Legally Blonde star noted, “Everyone has an opinion. It’s hard being a young mom and having people tell you how to be, how to react, how to give birth, how to nurse and how to feed your baby. It’s inundating.”
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Eventually, she sought help after confiding in a friend. “I had the connections and the means to get to a doctor, a mental-health specialist, but a lot of people don’t. They struggle on their own and hide it,” Witherspoon said.
Now in a better place, the actress credits her experiences — including her anxiety — for shaping her success. “I was probably successful because I had so much anxiety. They go hand in hand,” she reflected. “I stressed myself out in service of my job, and it got me really far. I’m rewarded for my anxiety and perfectionism.”