Millie Mackintosh is thankful the coronavirus pandemic allowed her to hide from the world whilst she was struggling with the “baby blues”.
Millie Mackintosh
The former 'Made In Chelsea' star recently opened up about suffering with her mental health following the birth of her daughter Sienna - whom she has with her husband Hugo Taylor - in May this year.
And Millie has now said she’s glad the UK went into lockdown for most of this year, because it meant she could deal with her battle - which she insists was not post-natal depression - without having to “put a brave face on”.
She said: “I think the lockdown restrictions worked in my favour - because I really didn't want to have to put a brave face on when having visitors.
“As a new mum, everyone expects you to be so radiant and happy - but as I recently mentioned on Instagram, for about six weeks, I really struggled with the baby blues.”
Millie admitted she felt “guilty” for being sad after the birth of her daughter, and ended up in a “real cycle” of emotions.
She added to Grazia magazine: “I kept thinking, ‘Here I am: I've got this beautiful baby, I've got this amazing husband - and we're so lucky’.
“I was asking myself, ‘why am I sad?’ And then, when you feel guilty for these feelings, you find yourself getting into a real cycle.
“Hugo found it really hard to see me cry, because, obviously, the first thing you want to do when someone you love is upset is to try and fix it.”
The beauty eventually spoke to her obstetrician for advice, who reassured her that her feelings were most likely due to hormones.
Millie then noticed at six-weeks after giving birth, her sad moments were reduced and she started to regain control of her emotions as her hormones began to level out again.
The 31-year-old star previously described how she was feeling in an emotional Instagram post, which helped her relate to other mothers going through similar experiences.
She wrote at the time: “Let's talk about the Baby Blues! Like most new mum's when I first arrived home with Sienna, I was totally overwhelmed by the love I felt for her, but I also felt very confused by the conflict in my emotions.
“I'd go from being euphorically happy, to being deeply sad and tearful in the same moment.
“Hugo would ask what was wrong and I was unable to give him an answer which only made me feel worse as I couldn't explain these all-consuming emotions.
“There was the irony of feeling so incredible lucky and happy, surrounded by cake, flowers, cards celebrating our adorable new arrival, yet feeling so stormy inside, which spiralled into anxiety as I feared developing post-natal depression (which did not happen), it almost started to take over the most precious time in my life. (sic)”
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