Rachel Adedeji turned to exercise to help her "mental state" after giving birth.
Rachel Adedeji
The 'Hollyoaks' star suffered from the baby blues after welcoming her little girl Lillian - who she shares with her husband Jason Finegan - into the world in December 2017, but she began to "feel better" after working out.
She said: "I've always been quite a fit person anyway so I started working out quite soon after having my daughter but that wasn't even for aesthetic reasons, it was for my mental state. I'm so glad I did it for those reasons.
"Eventually I started to notice a result and then I started to feel better about myself, but I'm so glad I didn't do it for those reasons, it wasn't the forefront pressure for me."
Rachel - who played Lisa Loveday in the Channel 4 soap from April 2016 to December 2017 - admits being in the spotlight may have affected her mental health while she was expecting Lillian.
When asked if being in the public eye had an impact on her mental health during pregnancy, she replied: "Yeah a little bit actually, I guess because you're a bit afraid of how people will perceive you.
"People see what they want to see, on social media I showcase the happier parts of my life because I only want to share my happy pictures and so I was a bit scared to talk about it for that reason.
"It wasn't until I started talking to other people about it and I thought actually, I don't care, I'm allowed to showcase that and actually, I can use this platform to help people."
Rachel is glad there is more awareness about the baby blues and postnatal depression nowadays, and she has been contacted by several 'Hollyoaks' fans who are young mums.
Speaking to website Mio & Mama Mio Skincare, she added: "A lot of my supporters who are young girls who watch me on 'Hollyoaks', who have had babies at a young age, all say that being young and having a baby, it's a lot harder to talk about it because a lot of your friends can't relate."
Rachel recently admitted she was "crying all the time" when she first gave birth to Lillian.
She said: "In terms of the aftermath, they say it's the best thing ever, which it is, but then you start to worry about everything. No one told me about the baby blues. No one told me about how hard breastfeeding actually is. The struggle is so real and I think people try to paint it as perfect; I'd rather people just be honest about it.
"For me, it was just crying all the time at first, but it's gone now. You've made this amazing human and you want the best for them, so you will cry and you might feel a bit sad but it's okay, because it will eventually go. I think if you don't talk about it, that's what could lead to postnatal depression."
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