CNN.com - Soap star reaches out to battle 'baby blues'
Daniel Cobb
Published Apr 12, 2026
By Kat Carney
CNN Headline News
(CNN) -- Actress Lisa Rinna has a lot to celebrate these days. She's got two television shows, an adoring husband and two beautiful children.
But when the "Days of Our Lives" star gave birth to her first child, she battled feelings of hopelessness for more than a year. Rinna sat down recently to share her journey back from postpartum depression.
About 70 percent to 85 percent of women have the "baby blues" after childbirth, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. However, about 10 percent of new mothers experience a more severe case of the "baby blues" -- postpartum depression. Postpartum depression lasts longer and is more intense, often requiring counseling and treatment.
"Darkness, depression ... no drive, no motivation, crying all the time," Rinna recalls of her experience. "I mean it's pretty intense."
Rinna says she had a wonderful pregnancy, and she even posed nude for Playboy while pregnant in 1998. However, the actress had a different experience shortly after giving birth.
Rinna says she had some "horrific visions" about hurting her baby. "That was the first sign I knew something was terribly wrong," she says.
| ||||||||
At first, Rinna says she felt uncomfortable discussing her feelings with her husband, actor Harry Hamlin. "He didn't know how to process that ... 'I have visions of hurting the baby. I feel like I'm going to take the baby and throw her out the window,' " she says.
With well-wishers congratulating her on her new motherhood, Rinna says she found it increasingly difficult to open up.
"I [felt] so hopeless because people say, 'What are you talking about? You have these beautiful children,' " she says. "So I think we keep it inside, which I did."
In addition to depression, new mothers sometimes don't get the rest and support that they need.
"It's very hard to have a baby and bounce back," Rinna says. "We all know it takes time to lose the weight. You don't feel good about yourself when you're heavy. ... When all you're doing is breast-feeding 12 times a day, you just don't feel good about yourself."
Rinna says she was more prepared when her second child was born. She started an exercise program before she gave birth and used a journal to express her feelings. Rinna also turned to her doctor for medication to help her through the first difficult months after giving birth.
"It saved my life," she says. "Because this second time [postpartum depression] felt even stronger."
No one warned Rinna about postpartum depression, but she says she is speaking out for new moms who may need someone to whom they can relate.
"[Postpartum depression] is still so hush-hush," she says. "There's such a stigma behind it ... And I say, 'Why?' Let's bust it out. Let's make it real and talk about it."
Story Tools |
