Amanda Seyfried opens up about health problems caused by childbirth: "I was terrified"
The actress has spoken for the first time about the complications that took place during the delivery of her son and how they affected her physical and mental health.
Amanda Seyfried, who is the mother of two children, has been honest for the first time about the complications she suffered during the birth of the second child. The actress shares her life with fellow actor Thomas Sadoski, and both are the parents of Nina, 4, and Thomas, 1.
As she has told in her most recent interview with People magazine, before giving birth to Thomas, she was terrified that she might suffer from possible postpartum depression. That fear forced her to look for techniques that would help her face it and continue.
"There was something wrong with my second birth," Amanda told media representatives on the same night she was attending a screening of her new movie, "A Mouthful of Air," at the Roxy Hotel in New York. York. "The baby was fine, but it was complicated and painful. It didn't have to happen, and it did, so she added an extra level of trauma," she explained.
Seyfried, 35, and Sadoski, 45, announced in September 2020 that they were expecting their second child. They did so through a statement from INARA and War Child, a foundation that provides medical assistance to children injured in war and of which the actors are part.
"Since the birth of our daughter 3 years ago, our commitment to innocent children who are so brutally affected by conflict and war has been a driving force in our lives," they said in the statement. "With the birth of our son, the work of INARA and War Child has become our North Star."
One of the ways that Thomas's birth affected Amanda was by leaving her with a spinal problem. As Seyfried recounted, her back pain made it impossible for her to care for the little ones, and as a result, she and her partner had to juggle caring for the little ones. "You just have to do it. At that time, just out of the hospital, I had to feed him, my husband was with my daughter, and, luckily, I had people who could take me to the hospital," said the actress.
The Oscar nominee then switched to a positive and reassuring tone, sounding optimistic about her current health. "I'm fine. It was a physical thing, a spinal thing, but I'm fine."
Although in this case it is a physical health problem, on other occasions Seyfried has been comfortable talking about her mental health. Already in 2016 she told the Allure medium that she was taking medication against OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder). "Yes. I am taking Lexapro and I will never stop. I have been taking it since I was 19 years old," she said.
And because of her background, she decided to take steps during her pregnancy to avoid possible postpartum depression. "I was terrified of having postpartum depression. I ended up doing a lot of cognitive behavioral therapy before having my first child, and I was very lucky because I didn't have any depression. I felt like I had kind of won." She continued: " It was tough, it was very tough fighting, but it was nothing I didn't think I could handle. And with my second child, that's partly because I was on my medication and never came off it," she concluded.
'A Mouthful of Air', a film starring Seyfried, hits theaters this coming Friday. At the premiere, the film's writer and director, Amy Koppelman, who interacted with the actress's eldest daughter during filming, could do nothing but praise: "She is the most affectionate, kind, funny and attentive. The best values that you could have, she has.
