Celebrities who battled postpartum depression

Getty ImagesBy Ashlee Davis

About 13% of women who give birth develop postpartum depression, a serious, long-lasting condition that's more than just "baby blues."

Postpartum depression can happen to anyone, even the rich and famous (and new dads too). Exhaustion, sleep deprivation, and other stressors take their toll.

These celebrity moms shared their postpartum depression with the world, despite a cultural stigma against discussing motherhood in less-than-glowing terms.

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Brooke Shields
Shields put postpartum depression front and center in 2005 when she traded barbs with Tom Cruise, who had criticized her use of antidepressants after the birth of her daughter Rowan.

Shields talks frankly about her extreme, sometimes suicidal, feelings in Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression.

"If I had been diagnosed with any other disease, I would have run to get help. I would have worn it like a badge," Shields told People magazine. "I didn't at first-but finally I did fight. I survived."

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Amanda Peet
"I had a fairly serious postpartum depression," the actress confessed in a 2008 article in Gotham magazine after giving birth to daughter Frankie.

"I think it was because I had a really euphoric pregnancy."

Valerie Plame Wilson
In the book Fair Game, Wilson, the world's most famous "outed" spy, talked about being a CIA operative-but also dedicated a chapter to her postpartum depression.

She described crying uncontrollably and suffering from anxiety and panic attacks during that period, according to the Wall Street Journal. She wrote: "My abilities to cope, problem solve, and adjust to new situations, abilities that had served me so well, were beyond my reach."

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Courteney Cox
Cox described her experience as a delayed case of postpartum depression to USA Today.

"I went through a really hard time-not right after the baby, but when [Coco] turned 6 months. I couldn't sleep," the actress said. "My heart was racing. And I got really depressed. I went to the doctor and found out my hormones had been pummeled."

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Kendra Wilkinson
Reality TV star Wilkinson talked with OK! magazine about son Hank: "After giving birth, I never brushed my hair, my teeth, or took a shower. I looked in the mirror one day and was really depressed. I thought, 'Look at me!' I had this glamorous life in LA, and now [in Indianapolis], I didn't."

Keep reading: Health.com: 10 Celebrities Who Battled Postpartum Depression