Actress and mom Drew Barrymore recently revealed that she had her own struggles with postpartum depression after her second child was born.
Barrymore, who is mom to two young daughters, three-year-old Olive and 18-month-old Frankie, told People that her life is “perfect and totally imperfect.”
She reportedly didn't have depression problems when Olive was born, but when Frankie was, she sensed that something wasn't right.
“I didn’t have postpartum the first time so I didn’t understand it because I was like, ‘I feel great!’ The second time, I was like, ‘Oh, whoa, I see what people talk about now. I understand,’” the mom said.
“It’s a different type of overwhelming with the second,” she added. “I really got under the cloud.”
Barrymore has been struggling with the condition while juggling between her new book, "Wildflower," and her next film, "Miss You Already."
“I just got right on the idea of, where do I need to be the most? Fifty-fifty would be ideal but life doesn’t work like that. Life is messy,” she said. “It was just really challenging and I felt overwhelmed. I made a lot of decisions and I definitely changed my work life to suit my parenthood.”
Although the painful experience lasted for a short six months, Barrymore is reportedly grateful for it because it reminded her to stay constantly in the present.
“It’s really important. I was in the kids’ class with Frankie and Olive this morning and I started fretting about some piece of work news that was just stressful,” she recalled. “You know, in like the Broadway Babies class and it’s the one-hit wonders day, and they’re singing I don’t even know what song, and we’re all doing our lollipop drums and I just thought, ‘Save it until after class.’ One thing at a time.”
Aside from being reminded to stay in the present, Barrymore has made it sure that her kids will always come first.
"But I really love it being all about the kids," she told Today. "Maybe that's my compensating for not having parents myself or a childhood but right now, the focus is about how we're figuring things out as parents."
Additionally, the proud mom said that her kids are still top priority.
“I'll do my best. I'm a workhorse, I always have been, I always will be. But work is very much second to my kids."
