Paltrow felt like a ‘zombie’ after suffering from post-natal depression

LONDON - Actress Gwyneth Paltrow has opened up about her struggle with post-natal depression following the birth of her second child son Moses in 2006.

The ‘Shakespeare in Love’ star also said she couldn’t understand why she felt so bad because she had been fine after giving birth to daughter Apple in 2004.

“I felt like a zombie. I couldn’t access my heart. I couldn’t access my emotions. I couldn’t connect,” the Daily Mail quoted her as telling Good Housekeeping magazine.

“It was terrible, it was the exact opposite of what had happened when Apple was born.

“With her, I was on cloud nine. I couldn’t believe it wasn’t the same. I just thought it meant I was a terrible mother and a terrible person.

Paltrow, who is married to Coldplay singer Chris Martin, also admitted she failed to recognise the symptoms of post-natal depression - which causes a hormone imbalance and affects up to 25 per cent of mothers.

“I thought postpartum depression meant you were sobbing every single day and incapable of looking after a child,” Paltrow said.

“But there are different shades of it and depths of it, which is why I think it’s so important for women to talk about it. It was a trying time. You don’t want anybody to know that you’re depressed or crying all the time.

“There’s this shame that we bring to it and it’s incredibly debilitating and scary and you just don’t feel like yourself,” she said.nd Paltrow said it was Martin who first helped her recognise she was suffering from the condition.

“About four months into it, Chris came to me and said, “Something’s wrong. Something’s wrong,” the 38-year-old actress revealed.

“I kept saying, “No, no, I’m fine.” But Chris identified it, and that sort of burst the bubble,”‘ she added. (ANI)