Mena Suvari says she struggles with postpartum depression ‘every day’

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Mena Suvari opens up about the effects of having a C-section. (Photo: RachelLuna/FilmMagic)

Mena Suvari says she struggles with postpartum depression “every day” sincedelivering her 1-year-old son Christopher.

In a new interview on the podcast Broad Ideas with Rachel Bilson theactress, 43, opened up about dealing with anxiety from an early age and howit’s taken more shape since becoming a mom.

“I’m not trying to [hide] much anymore,” the American Beauty actressexplained of her willingness to be open about her struggles. “If I could shaveoff some suffering for someone, then I want to do that. I’m more than wilingto be that person, because it breaks my heart to ever … consider someone elsegoing through a lot of what I’ve gone through, so it kinda makes sense to givein. That’s how I live my life.”

“This old lady just doesn’t want to play games anymore,” she added. “We haveto talk about these things.”

In her 2021 memoir The Great Peace , Suvari writes of surviving sexual abuseat 12 years old and overcoming drug addiction as a young actress in Hollywood.Writing the book, she said, was cathartic, and helped her navigate much ofthat old pain.

“The mindset I was in at 12, all the little things that happened to me as avery young person, I believe that it creates a mindset,” she explained. “I dohave memories of feeling alone. Very alone. That no one was ever going to ask[if I was OK], no one was ever really going to care, no one was ever reallygoing to do anything, and so I just learned to do everything on my own — andthat’s why no one noticed. I became very good at doing what was asked of me.”

When recalling Christopher’s delivery, Suvari says she spent “24 hours athome” and “24 hours at the hospital” in labor. At one point, the hospital gaveher an epidural that “they had to redo again.”

Ultimately, she ended up having an emergency C-section.

“I still feel like I’m allowed to hold some space for being sad about nothaving [a vaginal] birth,” she explained, noting that she hopes to normalizetalking about these feelings for other women. “I just want to make that area alittle bit bigger for people, because it’s not fair to just be like, ‘Butyou’re fine right?’ “But you didn’t die.” ‘But your baby’s OK.'”

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Still, the actress says striving for a healthier outlook is a daily task.

“I struggle with postpartum every day,” she says, later clarifying that she’sreferring to “postpartum depression.” She adds, ”All I’m doing next month istesting my hormones, so yeah, it’s all very real. I deal with it every day,or, how do I navigate this space?”

Working with a postpartum doula who helps her understand her feelings so thatshe may better direct them, Suvari says, she recalled a moment when sherealized the magnitude of her pain.

“I remember sitting on our balcony freaking out, saying, ‘I have to get out ofthe house. I have to get out of the house,'” she remembered. “My husband, hesaid, ‘You can go. You can go for a walk,’ and I was like, ‘But I didn’t thinkI [can].’ I was freaking out. I was like, I have to do something for myselfbut I can’t leave. I had to learn [to let go].

“I still struggle with that,” she continued, “I don’t have to be in [my son’s]face 24-7 to raise a good human being, because of my fear. It’s a lot ofwork.”

Now, Suvari hopes she can help other mothers who may also fail to understandtheir own struggles.

“I don’t want to sugarcoat it anymore,” she said. “I do want to help others. Idon’t think it suits anybody if I sit here and act perfect … especially atthis day and age … We’re all trying to survive and do the best we can, and wehave to help one another.”

The actress has opened up in the past about how she’s dealt with struggles —particularly the sexual trauma she faced as a young girl.

“Everyone was raving about how I looked 18. But I was 12,” she recalled to_The Guardian_ in July about her childhood. “What was communicated to me wasthat I was an adult, therefore I can act like an adult.”

Writing of these experiences in her memoir, she added, allowed her torecognize the harm that had been done.

“I needed to express myself. I needed to purge this in order to move on … Ivery much wanted to let it go,” she said of the writing process. “I think thebiggest thing is that, for me, I felt like I wasn’t allowed to consider a lotof these moments as abuse or trauma, because I always excused it. That’s a bigpart of survival — I had to learn how a lot of things served me then, and theydon’t have to serve me any more. I feel like stuff never really goes away, youjust garner a new perspective on it, and a new patience for myself and morecompassion.”

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