Alanis Morissette experienced “really, really hard” postpartum depression after all three of her pregnancies, which left her feeling “out of control,” she told the Call Her Daddy podcast on August 9.
“Basically, I became another person. All the hormones are all over the place,” Morissette said. “All I could picture was death and terrible things,” she added.
The singer shares three children — Ever, 14, Onyx, 10, and Winter, 7 — with her husband, Mario “Souleye” Treadway. The pair have been married since 2010.
With each pregnancy, she said her postpartum depression became “increasingly worse,” but she learned how to better cope with it over time. “Get community all around. And casseroles!” Morissette said.
After her first pregnancy, Morissette didn’t share how she was feeling with anyone for a year and two months, she told the podcast. The second time, it took her eight months to speak out, and the third time, she waited only three days. “I was just like, ‘Oh no, I’m not doing this again,'” she said.
She first spoke publicly about her postpartum depression in 2017, when she was going through it for the second time, because she wanted to encourage other women to seek help. In the Call Her Daddy podcast episode, she explained that after that, her phone started “blowing up” with messages from people who had gone through similar experiences.
She described the response from other women as “amazing” because it helped her feel more normal. “I started to realize I was so not alone,” Morissette said.
Postpartum depression is common, affecting around one in eight mothers, according to the CDC. Common symptoms include crying more often than usual, feeling angry, feeling distant from your baby, or doubting your ability to care for the baby.
Treatments, such as counseling and medication, can help reduce symptoms or make them go away completely. In addition to treatment, connecting with other mothers through support groups such as the Postpartum Support International (PSI) can help them feel less alone.
“This invisible load thing, it’s not going to be invisible anymore. We’re making it visible,” Morissette said of the emotional burden placed on mothers.
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