Chrissy Teigen recently opened up to Glamour magazine with an incredibly honest and moving letter about her struggles with postpartum depression. The model explained the difficulties she faced throughout the experience, before and after she received her diagnosis. Teigen says she wrote the letter, which has been widely shared, to show other women suffering with postpartum depression that they are not alone.
Teigen’s husband, John Legend, recently spoke to E! News about the essay. He said, “I’m so proud of her. She showed me the drafts when she was writing it and I knew it would mean a lot to a lot of women for them to see that. By acknowledging the pain that she’s going through, in doing that she also acknowledges the pain that a lot of women go through after they have a child. A lot of people don’t want to talk about it. A lot of people feel alone when they’re going through it and for her to let people know that they’re not alone, I think was really powerful.”
Because topics like postpartum depression are often avoided, women who experience them can be made to feel isolated and alone in their pain. Though Legend has never experienced the struggles of postpartum depression first-hand, he knows that it is important to vocally acknowledge them and to support women going through such a difficult time.
The singer further went on to give some advice to husbands whose wives are suffering from postpartum depression: “You have to be present. You have to be compassionate. You have to understand what the reasons for them feeling what they’re feeling are. I think once you know the reasons, I think you can be more helpful in identifying what they’re going through.”
To Legend, it is important to not stop trying to understand postpartum depression, even though you may not be experiencing it yourself. By nature of the differences between men and women, there are experiences that both genders will not share. Instead of accepting this fact, Legend stresses the importance of trying to understand and empathize with what other people may be feeling, regardless.
By speaking out about his wife’s powerful letter, Legend continues to support Teigen. NYMM thinks John is definitely on the right track with his attempts to understand and help his wife through her challenges. Despite our differences, we can all attempt to understand and support each other.
Featured Image by PopTech on Flickr
Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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