Halle Bailey quietly welcomed her first child, Halo, with her boyfriend, DDG, last year. Now, she’s opening up about something else she kept private: her struggles with postpartum depression.
In a video shared to Snapchat, Bailey shared with fans that she struggled with “severe, severe postpartum” after giving birth toward the end of 2023.
“And I don’t know if any new moms can relate, but it’s to the point where it’s really bad, and it’s hard for me to be separated from my baby for more than 30 minutes at a time before I start to kind of freak out,” she said in the video.
Bailey said DDG is a supportive dad and Halo is a “miracle,” but described struggling to feel like herself after giving birth.
“The only thing that’s been hard for me is feeling normal in my own body,” she said. “I feel like a completely different person. When I look in the mirror, I just feel like I’m in a whole new body. Like, I don’t know who I am.”
She continued, “Before I had a child and I would hear people talk about postpartum, it would kind of just go in one ear and out the other. I didn’t realize how serious of a thing it actually was. Now going through it, it almost feels like you’re swimming in this ocean that’s like the biggest waves you’ve ever felt and you’re trying not to drown. And you’re trying to come up for air.”
Though these are common feelings for moms struggling with PPD, Bailey expressed guilt over feeling like she should be happy, and said she wanted fans to know that her struggles had “nothing to do with my baby.” That sentiment in particular is heartbreaking. Every mom who has experienced PPD knows it’s not about your baby, whom you love so much.
Bailey has spoken about how becoming a mom has changed her life.
“My baby Halo makes me so happy — the best thing ever,” she told Forbes in a recent interview. “It’s just brought a whole new, just world of purpose and journey. It makes me want to be better every single day for him, you know?”
This really shows how insidious PPD can be. But that’s why it’s so brave and important for stars like Bailey to be open and honest about their experiences. The more voices we have, the less of a stigma there will be in speaking out and getting help when you need it.
