For Ashley Graham and Shay Mitchell, pregnancy has come with some high highs and some low lows.
So low, in fact, that both stars just got extremely candid in revealing that they’ve suffered from prepartum depression.
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No one can say that Ashley Graham doesn’t keep things real.
Even on the road to motherhood, the model, who’s currently just weeks (or even days!) away from welcoming her first child with husband, Justin Ervin, has remained extremely open with fans.
Like the time she shared this image of her stretch marks just days after announcing she was pregnant.
“same same but a little different,” she captioned the brave image, which was widely-celebrated online.
When Ashley struggled with difficult emotions afterwards, she shared her thoughts on that, too.
Ashley made these revealing comments on her digital series called “Fearless With Ashley Graham.”
She began by saying that she shared that image of her stretch marks since she thought she would feel good about it.
Instead, it was the exact opposite.
“I just felt terrible, ” she said, even pausing to cry.
That wasn’t the only time Graham experienced some serious lows during her pregnancy.
On a new episode of her podcast, “Pretty Big Deal with Ashley Graham,” she revealed that she’s been suffering from prepartum depression.
She was joined by “Pretty Little Liars” alum Shay Mitchell for the candid conversation.
Mitchell was the perfect guest to have since she gave recently birth to a baby girl with boyfriend Matte Babel in October.
This meant that she was able to share all kinds of motherly advice and insights.
Like how being a mother for Shay didn’t “click in” until she heard her baby cry.
“It’s when you put the baby in the car seat and you’re like ‘How do we do this?'”
The women also found solace in each other when they tackled the difficult subject of prepartum depression.
“I can’t say definitely that I went through it but I can say that I might have gone through something like it,” Ashley shared.
She continued: “I’m pregnant and it’s not like I was trying to get pregnant or I wasn’t trying. It just happened so it was a surprise.”
“Then all of a sudden, my emotions, my mind, my body, things that I always had control over are now totally out of whack.”
Ashley went on to share how she’s felt alone with some of these emotions.
“I can’t talk to anybody about it, my husband doesn’t understand but he’s trying to be as supportive as possible.”
“My mom is like, ‘Oh, you’ll be fine.’ I think I was spiralling a little bit and I was crying a lot.”
Mitchell could relate to everything Graham went through.
“Every single thing that you just said is exactly what I went through,” she said.
“My mom said the same thing, and I’d be crying to her and she’d be like, ‘You’re just emotional, it’s just the hormones.’”
“And, okay cool, it might be, but you don’t want to hear that. Like, yes it is; if it is the hormones I’m still feeling that way.”
She continued:
“It doesn’t take away from this feeling, and it’s completely isolating.”
The two women also agreed on how little awareness prepartum depression gets compared to postpartum depression.
“I heard so much about postpartum, which is also a real thing but I’d never heard about prepartum depression,” said Shay.
While these kind of conversations are never easy, we’re so happy these women are spreading awareness to such an important issue.
And with Ashley’s due date fast approaching, we can’t wait to see their adorable playdates together!
