The Real Housewives’ of Orange County's Gretchen Rossi revealed that she had postpartum depression and didn’t connect with her daughter. The mother gave birth to her first daughter earlier this year and has opened up about her daily struggle.
Rossi starred on The Real Housewives of Orange County from season 4 to season 8. When she made her debut on the show, she was going through the grieving process after learning her fiancé was dying from Leukemia. Sadly, her fiancé did pass away during the filming of the show, leading her main storyline to became about Slade Smiley. The good-looking couple began dating only a short time after the death of Rossi’s fiancé, and Smiley’s split from another housewife, Jo. Smiley and Rossi were referred to as the "mean" couple, as they always called the other housewives names during arguments. Rossi eventually decided to leave the show as she wanted to pursue other avenues.
Rossi and Smiley brought their daughter, Skylar into the world in July, but Rossi was not ready for the emotion that was to follow after giving birth. Rossi opened up on The Doctors (via Us Weekly) about how she coped with her postpartum depression. The forty-year-old new mother felt as if other mothers had lied to her about what motherhood would be like. The Orange County housewife believed that social media was to blame for making motherhood look easy and so perfect. Rossi said, "I had no idea what I was in for. I just thought, ‘This is going to be great.’ You see Instagram, you see social media, you see the media making it look like it’s so perfect, and you just sit there and breast-feed your child and you look magically into their eyes. It was nothing like that."
The reality star continued to say that she actually "went through a really difficult period" right after the birth of her daughter. She said, "I was depressed and had a lot of anxiety, and sadly, I wasn’t connecting with her at the beginning." Rossi realized that she might have postpartum depression after she had broken down crying at a pediatric appointment for her daughter when the doctor suggested she should go see a doctor for the symptoms. She said that she first denied the diagnosis, saying, "No, not me. I don’t have that. I’m happy. I’m such a positive person all the time." It did, however, help her, in the long run, to cope with her changing lifestyle, she explained, "I was really struggling and having an internal conflict with the fact that I had this beautiful, amazing miracle baby."
Now that the Michigan native has her mental health under control, she can really focus on learning to love her new reality. The former reality star realized she was blessed to have a baby at her age and wants to make sure Skylar grows up with a happy mother. By opening up about her motherhood struggles, Rossi hopes that another woman will be comforted in knowing that they are not alone.
The Real Housewives of Orange County air Tuesday at 9 PM EST on Bravo
Source: US Weekly