Adele Opens Up About Her Battle With Postpartum Depression

Adele is no stranger to being honest about the realities of parenthood, and now she’s opening up about her struggle with postpartum depression.

In a revealing new interview with Vanity Fair, Adele says she had “really bad postpartum depression” after she had her son, Angelo. “It frightened me,” the 28-year-old “Hello” singer told the magazine, noting that her friends who didn’t have children would get “annoyed” by her. However, she decided one day to open about her struggle to a friend and fellow mom.

“I said to a friend, ‘I f***in’ hate this,’ and she just burst into tears and said, ‘I f***in’ hate this too.’ And it was done. It lifted,” Adele recalled. “My knowledge of postpartum — or postnatal, as we call it in England — is that you don’t want to be with your child; you’re worried you might hurt your child; you’re worried you weren’t doing a good job.” But Adele says she was “obsessed” with her son. “I felt very inadequate; I felt like I’d made the worst decision of my life,” she said. “It can come in many different forms.”

Eventually, Adele says she decided to give herself one afternoon each week to “do whatever the f*** I want without my baby.” She adds, “A friend of mine said, ‘Really? Don’t you feel bad?’ I said, ‘I do, but not as bad as I’d feel if I didn’t do it.’”

Adele has hinted in the past that being a mom hasn’t been a cakewalk for her, telling i-D magazine in 2015 that parenthood is “f***ing hard.”

Postpartum depression has been a huge topic this year, both in Hollywood and government policy. Actress Hayden Panettiere, who has openly struggled with the condition, announced in May that she was seeking treatment for a second time since giving birth to her daughter, Kaya, in December 2014. She told Yahoo Style in March that she was “terrified” people weren’t going to accept her battle when she first sought treatment in October 2015. “I finally just went, ‘I’m tired of living afraid. I’m tired of living in fear of what people are going to think, so you know, I’m just going to put it all out there on the table, and I’m not going to worry about the judgment,'” she said. “The more open I was, the more acceptance I got from people. … I feel much more exposed, yes, but in a great way.”

In January, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued a recommendation that all women should be screened for depression during and after pregnancy. It is believed that the recommendation, which was published in JAMA, will increase efforts to detect depression in new moms and pregnant women.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), up to 19 percent of women experience some symptoms of postpartum depression, which the organization simply defines as “depression that occurs after having a baby.” Women are more at risk when they suffer from stress, had difficulty getting pregnant, are a mother to multiples (like twins or triplets), had pregnancy complications, or have low social support, the CDC says, although the organization notes that anyone can suffer from the condition.

According to the CDC, the major symptoms of postpartum depression include crying more often than usual, feelings of anger, withdrawing from loved ones, feeling guilty about not being a good mom or doubting your ability to care for the baby, feeling numb or disconnected from your baby, and worrying that you will hurt the baby.

Women’s health expert Jennifer Wider, MD, tells Yahoo Beauty that there is a “tremendous amount of misinformation” about the condition. “Mentions in the news tend to sensationalize cases involving women who suffer from postpartum psychosis, a rare condition in which women experience delusions, hallucinations, altered cognition, and thoughts of harming herself or others,” she says. But women who experience postpartum depression oven feel overwhelmed or anxious, not psychotic.

Tamar Gur, MD, PhD, a psychiatrist and women’s health expert at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, agrees. “The lingering stigma of mental illness unfortunately leads to misperceptions, like the idea that women suffering from depression want to hurt their children,” she tells Yahoo Beauty. But postpartum depression can take many forms. “Postpartum anxiety is very common, like having intrusive thoughts you have to check on your baby on a constant basis, or a preoccupation with germs,” Gur says, noting that postpartum psychosis is “very rare.”

Julie Lamppa, APRN, a certified nurse midwife at Mayo Clinic, tells Yahoo Beauty that the term “postpartum depression” has become a catchall for all forms of mood disorders experienced during this timeframe. “This often isn’t accurate,” she says. “Postpartum mood changes may include depression, anxiety, guilt, self-doubt, or other feelings.”

Wider applauds Adele’s method of grappling with her depression. “New moms rarely take time for themselves, which can contribute to the depression,” she says. “Carving out time for herself is very smart, where she can refocus and find a balance.”

Lamppa agrees. “We all need time for ourselves once in a while, and new mothers are not immune to this. It’s a time to reset, regroup, and recharge,” she says. “In addition, it’s helpful for a mother to gain trust in others to care for her baby when she is unable to.”

Sherry Ross, MD, ob-gyn and women’s health expert at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in California, tells Yahoo Beauty that treatment for postpartum depression can vary depending on the severity of the woman’s condition. For some women, it’s enough to talk to close friends, get more sleep or exercise, eat well, and do things for themselves, she says. For others, antidepressants are needed. Adele is “very lucky” that talking it through and taking “me time” helped, Ross says.

But it can be difficult for women to know whether they’re suffering from the “baby blues” or postpartum depression. According to the CDC, women with the “baby blues” typically feel better within a few days; those who suffer from postpartum depression have prolonged, intense feelings of worry and sadness. Wider says women who suffer from postpartum depression also have symptoms that disrupt daily functions, are overwhelming, and persist for more than two to three weeks. If that describes you or someone you love, it’s time to seek help from a medical professional.

Women typically have a six-week postpartum visit scheduled, during which the topic of postpartum depression is raised, but if symptoms emerge before then, Ross recommends that they call their doctor. “Often, symptoms of postpartum depression happen before the six-week visit,” she says.

New or expecting mothers shouldn’t wait to get help, Gur says: “It doesn’t mean that they’re a bad mom or bad person, it just means that they need to get help as soon as possible.”

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