R&B star Jordin Sparks has gone public with her battle with postpartum depression, a year after welcoming her first child.
The No Air hitmaker and her husband Dana Isaiah welcomed their son Dana Isaiah Jr. in May, 2018, but the singer is only now opening up about the emotional struggle she faced in the months following her baby boy’s arrival, because it took her some time to come to terms with, and overcome, the mental health condition.
“Everybody knows about what postpartum depression is – maybe not exactly what it all entails because it’s different for each woman – but there’s this thing called the fourth trimester, which happens after you have your baby,” she told Us Weekly.
“It’s dealing with everything that happens with your body. Your body goes and changes, your hormones are absolutely insane. Then you’re dealing with this baby and then something doesn’t go right…”
Jordin explains she was surrounded by loved ones to help her with the early stages of motherhood, but she still found it difficult to discuss her feelings with others.
She said, “Sometimes it feels hard to reach out because you’re like, ‘How do I feel so lonely when this amazing thing just happened?'”
The 29 year old managed to work through her feelings of depression with the help of her fellow mothers, especially one friend, named Morgan, who gave birth a month after Jordin and experienced similar emotions.
“I would talk to her and be like, ‘I feel like this today. Sorry, I just needed to let you know,'” the American Idol star recalled. “And she’d be like, ‘No, I understand. That was me yesterday.’ I’d be like, ‘Oh, God. Thanks. OK. Good. I know I’m not the only one.'”
To add to her tough year, Jordin recently lost her stepfather who died after suffering a stroke earlier this month (May19).
U.S. Army veteran James Jackson was laid to rest last week (May 14, 2019).