This post contains discussion of substance abuse.
You probably also know that Hayden shares an eight-year-old child, Kaya, with ex-husband Wladimir Klitschko.
In a recent interview with E!’s The Rundown, Hayden discussed how it felt to struggle with postpartum depression, and what she wishes she knew while dealing with it.
“I wish I knew to look out for it,” Hayden admitted, before discussing how she initially dealt with the feelings that came with experiencing postpartum depression.
She says she “thought there was something seriously wrong with me, so I thought, ‘Fireball will fix this—duh!’”
“And it didn’t. It does for a moment, but then it makes everything worse.”
Hayden went on to describe how the experience “hurts for you.” “You’re like, ‘I should be able to get over this all by myself,'” she remembered thinking.
Of course, everyone needs help when they’re struggling — and Hayden is speaking out about her experience to let others know they should ask for help, too.
“I wish somebody told me that that was a possibility [and] told me it’s OK if you birth your child and you’re not immediately like, ‘Oh my god, I love you more than anything in the entire world!’” she said.
“It’s OK and not abnormal if [your baby] comes out and it’s a blob, and you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is like a crazy little creation that I’m going to love when I get to know you.’”
You can check out the entire interview here.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, you can call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) and find more resources here.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline is 1-888-950-6264 (NAMI) and provides information and referral services; GoodTherapy.org is an association of mental health professionals from more than 25 countries who support efforts to reduce harm in therapy.