Gwynnie Paltrow has revealed she shunned anti-depressants and made ‘simple lifestyle changes’ to combat post-natal depression.
The Oscar-winning actress, 46, said that while the drugs were ‘lifesavers for certain people’, she preferred an alternative approach to beating the ‘baby blues’.
She cut out alcohol, attended therapy sessions and exercised after finding herself in a ‘dark place’ following the birth of her son Moses, now 12, with ex-husband, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin.
‘I had post-natal depression after my son,’ the Shakespeare in Love actress said.
‘A doctor tried to put me on anti-depressants and I thought, “If I need them, then yes, I’ll come back to it.”’
But the star said she was able to ‘break out of it’ after assembling a list of simple life changes. Miss Paltrow, also shares daughter Apple, 14, with the musician.
On a podcast for her lifestyle brand Goop, she said: ‘It was really shocking to me because I never thought that I would be a person who got post-natal depression. I was so euphoric when Apple was born, and I assumed it would happen with Mosey and it just... it took a while. I really went into a dark place.’
Miss Paltrow and Martin separated after more than ten years of marriage in 2014.
The actress admitted she now found the term ‘conscious uncoupling’ – which the pair used to announce the split – ‘dorky’.
‘I think Chris and I are very like-minded and we really were disappointed that our marriage wasn’t going to work,’ she added.