"I just felt so ineffective": Mandy Moore opens up about postpartum struggles
Los Angeles, California – Mandy Moore spoke candidly about her struggles with postpartum depression in the months after having her first child.
Parenthood is no small feat, especially when you're dealing with postpartum and mental health issues.
Mandy Moore (37) opened up about her struggles with both in a conversation with clinical psychologist and perinatal mental health specialist Dr. Ashurina Ream.
In a video posted earlier this week on the health and beauty company Lansinoh's Instagram page, Moore talked in an IG Live about the difficulties she experienced in her first few months of motherhood.
"I just felt this rush of like, 'I’m not good enough for him. I don’t know how to be his mom. I know how to feed him, but beyond that, am I suited for this?'" Moore said in the video.
While admitting she knew it would be challenging before her five-month-old son Gus was even born, Moore said she hoped a motherly instinct would kick-in and take over. But it never fully did – at least not in the way she expected.
"Obviously, I knew it was going to be challenging, but I thought, 'Oh, I maybe have this sort of naturally maternal side,' whatever the heck that means," Moore told Dr. Ream.
The added struggles of having a baby mid-pandemic
Given that her baby was born in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic didn't make things easier, either.
Since "Mommy and Me" classes, where new mothers can often bond over shared challenges, had been put on hold, Moore said she began to feel extremely isolated.
It didn't help that she felt her husband, musician Taylor Goldsmith (35), had a stronger bond with their son. She felt her husband "seemed to have a supernatural ability" in caring for their young child.
"I just felt like whatever I did, it just wasn’t right, and I couldn’t get him to sleep, and it made me feel horrible," she said.
Her mental health struggles after becoming a mother did give her insight and an added appreciation for Rebecca Pearson, the character Moore plays on the NBC's hit television show, This Is Us.
"This is a woman who didn’t have a village. She had a supportive partner, but also a supportive partner who had a job – and was sort of left to her own devices with triplets," Moore explained.
The final season of This Is Us is set to premiere in 2022, with Moore now having an added layer of real-life experience to her character.
Cover photo: IMAGO / Runway Manhattan