Singer-songwriter Anne-Marie has opened up about suffering from postnatal anxiety and postnatal depression, and admitted her anxiety was “so bad” when she gave birth to her first child she didn’t want to be left alone in her house.
Anne-Marie’s postnatal anxiety was “so bad” she didn’t want to be left alone following the birth of her first child.
The Baby Don’t Hurt Me singer has daughter Seven, 17 months, and a son, two months, with her rapper husband Slowthai.
Following Seven’s birth, the 34-year-old star was diagnosed with postnatal anxiety, which she hadn’t heard of before, and six months later she went through postnatal depression.
Speaking to Scott Mills on The Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2, she said: “I actually had anxiety so bad when I first had Seven and I didn’t want to be left alone.
“I was like, ‘Don’t leave the house, don’t go there, don’t go there.’
“And I didn’t know there was such thing as postnatal anxiety. I only knew about postnatal depression. So I was like, ‘Oh, OK, that’s a new one.’
“So then I learned all about that, and then I went through postnatal depression. And that was about six months after Seven was born.”
Anne-Marie now attends a therapy session once a week, and while she has had a “rollercoaster” relationship with it, therapy has become her “best friend”.
She said: “You know what, therapy and me, that’s a rollercoaster as well, because I started in lockdown, and I’ve done it consistently, and then I felt like I was OK, and I stopped doing it.
“And then I made the third album, and I was like, ‘I don’t need therapy anymore. I’m fine.’
“Then I had Seven and then I was like, ‘OK, I’m sorry if you saw any of the interviews where I said I don’t need you anymore, can I have you back?!’ So now I do it again once a week.”
Asked if there was any advice she would give to anyone going through something similar, she said: “Probably speak to someone.
“Because I just felt like, ‘Oh, this is just how I’m supposed to feel.’
“Because, you know, my hormones are all over the place, and I’m tired, but my iron was low, so tiredness was coming from my iron deficiency.
“It’s like there’s so many other options to what it could be than just being you’re a mum now, you know, so therapy is my best friend.
“But also tell people, because I never asked for help, and that’s why I got so tired, right? And people think that you’re sweet, when you’re pretending to be OK.”
Anne-Marie now feels like her brain is returning to “normal” after being “rewired”, and she is “happy again”.
She added: “I look different. I feel different. My brain is rewired. I swear everything has changed.
“I just feel like now I’m slowly getting my brain back to normal. Well, it wasn’t normal in the first place, bear in mind!
“But it feels like I actually feel happy again. It’s weird, because obviously I’m happy that I’ve had children, and I love them.”
Anne-Marie didn’t want to be left alone in her house amid postnatal anxiety battle
