Chrissy Teigen is a mama who doesn’t bite her tongue. The Lip Sync Battle star takes to social media on a regular basis to update fans about her work and family, and she’s been brutally honest about the ups and downs of #momlife.

The 33-year-old mom of two has spoken candidly about her experience with postpartum depression (PPD) after welcoming daughter Luna, who is now 3 years old. In a recent interview with Today, Teigen explained that of all the stuff she’s done in her career or talked about her public admission postpartum depression after Luna’s birth is what people talk to her about the most.

“Since it happened with Luna, it happened with my first one, I just didn’t know that there was any other way to feel…I thought it was very natural to be in this low, low point and I just assumed that was motherhood and there was no other way around it,” she tells Today, adding that she didn’t truly realize how many women are impacted by PPD the first time she went public with her story.

“I didn’t really realize it until I’d written an article with Glamour magazine and spoken out about it how many women are going through this…I think more than anything I’ve ever done, more women on the street come up to me and talk about that article than anything else.”

That article was only the first in a series of very open public conversations Teigen has had on the subject. When she was expecting Miles in 2018 she spoke on stage at a Create & Cultivate event in Los Angeles and didn’t hold back about how she was feeling as a pregnant mom who had already been through PPD once.

“Do I worry about it with this little boy? I do. But I also know that when it does happen — if it does — I’m so ready for it. I have the perfect people around me for it. That’s why I stand for a real core group of people around me”, according to People.

Teigen’s concerns about PPD were certainly warranted, and so is her advocacy. About one in nine women in the United States experience postpartum depression symptoms, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among women who, like Teigen, have already experienced an episode of PPD, the rates are as high as 50%.

PPD is super common, but it is also super hard, even for someone with all the resources Teigen has. “I have all the help I could need: John, my mother (who lives with us), a nanny. But postpartum does not discriminate. I couldn’t control it. And that’s part of the reason it took me so long to speak up: I felt selfish, icky, and weird saying aloud that I’m struggling. Sometimes I still do,” she wrote in the essay for Glamour .

Teigen spoke up about her PPD because she doesn’t want other moms to delay getting help. When she was diagnosed after months of pain, it was an incredible relief, and she wishes she’d gotten help sooner.

“I remember being so exhausted but happy to know that we could finally get on the path of getting better. John had that same excitement. I started taking an antidepressant, which helped.”

Teigen isn’t shutting the door on having more kids just yet, telling the folks at Today that she’ll be ready to advocate for herself, “even in the future with any other babies that come along.”

If PPD does strike this mama again, she will be ready. We’re pretty sure it doesn’t stand a chance, because if her Twitter history is any indication, this is a mama who will not be messed with.

[A version of this post was published on February 26, 2018. It has been updated.]

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