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Gwyneth Paltrow on Postpartum Depression: "I Felt Like a Zombie"

Gwyneth Paltrow is continuing her weeklong domination of the media (thanks, Country Strong!), this time going all housewife on us by taking the cover of Good Housekeeping.
/ Source: E!online

Gwyneth Paltrow is continuing her weeklong domination of the media (thanks, Country Strong!), this time going all housewife on us by taking the cover of Good Housekeeping.

Gwynnie has thankfully never shied away from discussing her battle with postpartum depression and took her cover opportunity to once again bring awareness to the silent plight, discussing her "zombie" state after giving birth to son Moses, and crediting hubby Chris Martin with being the first to suggest she might be suffering from the condition.

Which, we're guessing, is just one of the many benefits of marrying a sensitive rocker.

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"I felt like a zombie," the 38-year-old, currently psychologically sound mother of two told the magazine. "I couldn't access my heart. I couldn't access my emotions. I couldn't connect."

The experience was entirely new to Paltrow, who'd had no such problems in 2004, after giving birth to her daughter, Apple. It was only in 2006, after she and Martin welcomed son Moses, that things changed.

"It was terrible, it was the exact opposite of what had happened when Apple was born. With her, I was on cloud nine. I couldn't believe it wasn't the same. I just thought it meant I was a terrible mother and a terrible person."

She was, of course, neither, and it was her Coldplay frontman hubby who helped her start to see that.

"About four months into it, Chris came to me and said, 'Something's wrong. Something's wrong,'" she said. "I kept saying, 'No, no, I'm fine.' But Chris identified it, and that sort of burst the bubble."

And while she didn't get better overnight, simply knowing what it is she was up against--and seeking the required help to get through it--helped.

"I thought postpartum depression meant you were sobbing every single day and incapable of looking after a child. But there are different shades of it and depths of it, which is why I think it's so important for women to talk about it. It was a trying time. I felt like a failure."

These days, however, she's in much higher spirits. That is, unless you bring up her failed '90s R&B act with Jimmy Fallon. You've been warned.

MORE: Find out what Gwyneth did on NYE!