![\"reese](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0e9f8b16a02a1a1f6f8f2e9330491c2431-reese-witherspoon.rsquare.w400.jpg\")
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Reese Witherspoon<\/a> recently got candid about her experience with postpartum depression<\/a>. The actress and mom of three opened up in an interview with Harper\u2019s Bazaar U.K.<\/a>, calling the experience she had after giving birth to her first child, Ava Phillippe, \u201creally hard.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn the first six months, I was simultaneously happy and depressed,\u201d Witherspoon said. \u201cI just cried all the time, I was up all night, I was exhausted. It was a hormone drop I didn\u2019t expect, which I experienced right after birth and again when I stopped nursing six months later.\u201d<\/p>\n Witherspoon was 23 years old when she became a mom, and she told the magazine that her youth affected how people treated her. \u201cEveryone has an opinion,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard being a young mom and having people tell you how to be, how to react, how to give birth, how to nurse, and how to feed your baby. It\u2019s inundating.\u201d<\/p>\n On the advice of a friend, Witherspoon sought medical help for PPD. \u201cI had the connections and the means to get to a doctor, a mental-health specialist, but a lot of people don\u2019t,\u201d she said. \u201cThey struggle on their own and hide it.\u201d<\/p>\n Later in the interview, Witherspoon also discussed her attitude toward menopause<\/a>, praising some of her A-list friends who have spoken out about it. \u201cI\u2019ll say the wrong word or the wrong name with extreme confidence,\u201d she said. \u201cWe all go through it and have to be patient with each other. I\u2019m always grateful for women who normalise it \u2014 like Gwyneth [Paltrow]<\/a> and Naomi Watts<\/a>. I benefit from the research they do.\u201d<\/p>\n Witherspoon is the latest in a long string of powerful women speaking up about reproductive health. In recent years, it has become more common for celebrities to share about both their postpartum and menopausal experiences. Kylie Jenner<\/a>, Kourtney Kardashian<\/a>, and Serena Williams<\/a> have offered up advice to new moms on working through the mental and physical struggles that can come with birth; Paltrow, Watts, and more recently Queen Latifah<\/a> have all been outspoken about their journeys with menopause. Obviously not the point, but Witherspoon\u2019s character experiencing perimenopause would be a good subplot on The Morning Show. Just a thought!<\/p>\n Stay in touch.<\/p>\n Get the Cut newsletter delivered daily<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n