After Rowan's birth, Brooke Shields suffered from severe postpartum depression that affected her marriage with Chris Henchy. Shields told Oprah Winfrey that her depression "gripped my heart to such an extent that I didn't even have the desire to try to overcome it. I mean, I was flattened by it. I was devastated by it." She shared in the interview that Henchy was confused and hurt by her behavior, ultimately breaking down into tears. "[He] burst into tears. ... He said, 'What is wrong with you? You don't sing to the baby. You don't even look at the baby.'"
After speaking with her doctor, she was soon prescribed antidepressants. Shields told Winfrey she was hesitant and embarrassed about taking them but Henchy convinced her, telling her, "'Please, there's nothing wrong with it. Just try.'" In her memoir "Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression," Shields says her husband was supportive in dealing with her depression, but admitted the fear and lack of trust still existed within their relationship at the time: "Damage gets done ... my husband, if I have a bad day, he looks at me, thinking, 'Oh God, it's going to come back again.' There's a lack of trust that was there at one time and I think that that's damaging, and that's damage to our relationship" (via People).
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.
