Mena Suvari Shares She's Struggling With Postpartum Depression 'Every Day'

Mena Suvari is sharing her ongoing struggle with postpartum depression. The Great Peace author and her husband, Michael Hope, welcomed their son, Christopher, in 2021. Since the arrival of her son, Suvari has been navigating her diagnosis that she struggles with “every day.”  

The American Pie actress recounted the moment after her son’s birth where she realized that something may be off.  

"I remember sitting on our balcony saying, 'I have to get out of the house. I have to get out of the house.' My husband, he said, 'You can go. You can go for a walk,' and I was like, 'But I don't think I [can],'" Suvari told Rachel Bilson during her appearance on the Broad Ideas podcast about one of her low moments.  

"I was going crazy. I was like, 'I have to do something for myself but I can't go.' I had to learn [to let go]," she said.  

Suvari shared that she is learning that she doesn’t need to have added anxiety about being away from her son.  

"I still struggle with that," she said. "I don't need to be in [my son's] face 24/7 to raise a good being because of my fears. It's a lot of work." 

The American Beauty actress also discussed how she had to learn to give herself grace when things with her birthing plan didn't work out as she planned. Suvari said that she planned to have a natural water birth at home.  

However, she said that she had almost two days of labor that resulted in her having to give birth to her son with medicine and in the hospital. After her emergency C-section, the actress shared that her son was given immediate skin-to-skin contact with her husband.  

"I still suffer from that, and I’m entitled to those emotions," Suvari said. "We as mothers are entitled to those emotions and just because I have a beautiful baby who's perfectly healthy, my husband's wonderful and we made it out of the hospital, I still feel like I'm allowed to hold some space for being sad over not having that birth."  

She continued, "I just want to make that area a little bit bigger for people," she added. "Because it's not fair to just be like, 'But you're fine, right? But you didn't die? But your baby's OK?'" 

Suvari added that despite all of the emotions, her pregnancy was still a wonderful experience. 

"I had a great pregnancy, everything was wonderful," she said. "I feel very lucky for all of that." 

In 2021, Suvari spoke with ET -- months before welcoming her son -- and dished on the "surreal" feeling of becoming a mother.

"I feel really lucky, and it's just wild," she shared. "It truly feels like the most important thing that I will ever do in my life. Like, nothing else matters. Everything just changes in your life," she continued. "He'll come first." 

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