I’m a Celebrity stars praised for ‘important’ dialogue about postnatal despair
Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews
Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter
Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter
I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! contestants Danny Jones, Coleen Rooney and Oti Mabuse were praised by viewers for a candid discussion about postnatal depression.
McFly star Jones, 38, reflected on his wife Georgia’s experience of childbirth, telling his fellow campmates: “Looking back now, she had postnatal depression. That is so hard and what made it harder was she didn’t know.”
“Seeing my wife go through that was kind of new,” he noted.
The musician and his wife, who was previously crowned Miss England, are parents to six-year-old son Cooper.
Postnatal or postpartum depression affects more than one in every 10 women within a year of giving birth, according to the NHS, and it can also affect fathers and partners.
Symptoms include persistent low mood, lack of enjoyment and energy and difficulty looking after yourself and your child, the NHS says.
Strictly star Mabuse, 34, and TV personality Rooney, 38, then shared how their mental health had been affected in the aftermath of childbirth.
Mabuse, who welcomed her first child, a daughter, last year, revealed that shortly after giving birth, “I just remember going to the shower and I was crying”.
“I was just devastated but nothing was wrong. I had a new baby, the midwives were amazing, I was getting fed, my husband was there, like nothing was wrong but everything was wrong.”
Rooney, who shares four children with her footballer husband Wayne, said that she “just threw [her]self on the bed sobbing” a few days after giving birth to eldest son Kai, now 15.
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
“The emotions just take over you,” she added. “And also what I found hard is this baby is now your responsibility for life.”
Mabuse said that her husband Marius Iepure “needed to learn to be there for [her] emotionally” in the early stages of motherhood, adding that he had “tried to fix” her problems.
Jones revealed that he had acted in a similar way, explaining: “I wanted to try and fix it and say, ‘Come on, you can do this’, but that’s not what [Georgia] needed.”
Their chat prompted I’m a Celebrity viewers to applaud the stars for speaking up about a difficult topic, with some fans suggesting that “normalising” the issue might “seriously help some people”.
“It’s good they are bringing up postnatal depression. It’s a very real thing, and so many women endure it in silence,” one viewer wrote on Twitter/X.
“Glad they’re speaking about postnatal depression on #ImACeleb I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy,” another said.
“Almost sobbing watching the camp mates normalising postpartum depression,” a third wrote. “Thank you.”
“Oti, Danny and Coleen talking about postpartum depression is really comforting,” another shared. “I struggled a lot with my emotions after I had my daughter too.”
If you need support or resources; Pandas, a charity which offers hope, empathy and support for every parent or network affected by perinatal mental illness (call 0808 1961 776), Support for Mums and Families, Association for Post Natal Illness (helpline open 10am-2pm – 020 7386 0868 or email info@apni.org), Best Beginnings or Tommy’s, which offer free support and information for women and families at any stage of pregnancy or after birth
