Welcome to Mothership: Parenting stories you actually want to read, whether you're thinking about or passing on kids, from egg-freezing to taking home baby and beyond. Because motherhood is a big if — not when — and it's time we talked about it that way.
Chrissy Teigen has been incredibly candid about her experience with postpartum depression after giving birth to her first child with John Legend, Luna in April 2017. This March, the new mom revealed her struggle with PPD in a moving piece published by Glamour. The supermodel detailed the symptoms she had that eventually led to her diagnosis in December — including detachment, crying, exhaustion, sadness, spontaneous crying, extreme body pains that sent her to the hospital, and self-isolation. ("Most days were spent on the exact same spot on the couch and rarely would I muster up the energy to make it upstairs for bed," she wrote.) Now, three months after her revelation, Teigen is openly grappling with how her PPD diagnosis is — or isn't —affecting her family planning going forward.
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In a new interview with Marie Claire, the July cover star addresses whether she plans to have more kids. Essentially, she's keeping her options open right now. "I would definitely adopt or have foster children," the 31-year-old said. "But I loved being pregnant. Maybe I should be scared [of having PPD again], but I don't know. It couldn't be any worse than it was — could it?" While that's a decision every woman has to make for themselves, it's certainly inspiring to hear that Teigen isn't making any decisions based on the risk of having PPD the second time around.
Teigen, whose current treatment plan involves a combination of antidepressants and therapy, was also diagnosed with anxiety at the end of 2016. During her interview with Marie Claire, which took place at a cake-decorating studio in Los Angeles, Teigen described feeling anxious doing the activity. "Every step I take feels a little shaky," she wrote. "It's such a weird feeling that you wouldn't know unless you have really bad anxiety…You feel like everyone is looking at you."
One person who is always by Teigen's side throughout her anxiety and depression is her Grammy-winning hubby. Legend has also been vocal about his wife's battle with PPD, praising her for writing about the issue that millions of women go through. "I think it was powerful for her to let a lot of women know they’re not alone," Legend told People in March. "For me as a husband, it was my job to do the best I could to support her and understand what she was going through and do whatever I could do to help her."
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Indeed, Teigen has credited Luna's father for his nonjudgemental support throughout the process. She wrote her March Glamour essay, "I know he must look over at times and think: My God, get it together. But he has never made me feel that way... he’s not making me feel bad when I’m not in that [happy] place." She concluded, "I love John and Luna more than I can imagine loving anything, and John and I still hope to give Luna a few siblings. Postpartum hasn’t changed that." And three months later, it still hasn't.