Hollywood star Reese Witherspoon has opened up about her long struggle with depression, encouraging others to seek help and speak openly about mental health.
In a candid interview with Harper’s Bazaar, The Morning Show actress reflected on her early experiences with depression, sharing that she battled the condition as a teenager and again after becoming a mother.
The Oscar-winning actress revealed that her grandmother, Dorothea, had also suffered from depression — something her mother had warned her might be hereditary.
“My mom was honest with me and said, ‘You need to be careful. This could be genetic,’” Witherspoon recalled. “She had been this well-educated woman who was then left alone with two little kids while her husband went to work. She got really depressed.”
Postpartum struggles after Ava’s birth
Reese, who gave birth to her first child Ava in 1999, described the postpartum period as one of the hardest times of her life.
“In the first six months, I was simultaneously happy and depressed,” she said. “I just cried all the time, I was up all night, I was exhausted. It was a hormone drop I didn’t expect, which I experienced right after birth and again when I stopped nursing six months later.”
The actress explained that the flood of opinions and unsolicited advice she received as a young mother only made things harder.
“Everyone has an opinion,” she said. “It’s hard being a young mom and having people tell you how to be, how to react, how to nurse, and how to feed your baby. It’s inundating.”
‘Getting help changed everything’
Eventually, Witherspoon confided in a close friend, who encouraged her to seek professional help — a decision that she credits with changing her life.
“I had the connections and the means to get to a doctor, a mental health specialist — but a lot of people don’t,” she said. “They struggle on their own and hide it.”
Witherspoon emphasized that her experience with anxiety and depression shaped her work ethic and resilience, though it also pushed her to unhealthy extremes.
“I was probably successful because I had so much anxiety. They go hand in hand,” she admitted. “I pressured myself to extreme levels to show up at work in a perfect way. But now we all know — perfect isn’t attainable or sustainable.”
The Legally Blonde star concluded by urging others to seek help when needed and not to suffer in silence. “I stressed myself out in service of my job, and it got me really far. But I’ve learned that mental health needs care and compassion — just like physical health.”
