Charlotte Crosby has opened up to OK! about suffering with a “scary” bout of prenatal depression.
The former Geordie Shore star, who is 32 weeks pregnant with a baby daughter, said she felt so low she couldn’t get out of bed.
Charlotte, 32, has praised her boyfriend Jake Ankers, 32, for supporting her through the depression, which hit nine weeks in, after struggling to find help about the condition.
In an exclusive interview, Charlotte said: “I was really down and I’d never felt that way before. It was like I had a constant dark cloud hanging over my head.
“I had no enthusiasm to get out of bed some days – I couldn’t even speak to my boyfriend.
“I couldn’t understand why I felt so down when I should have been so happy. It was scary because I couldn’t find anybody who had ever spoken about it, and I didn’t know who to reach out to to get advice from, so I was just on all these forums trying to get a reply from all these random people, but nobody ever replied.
"Still, I saw that it was common. Your body is going through all these changes, and your hormones are all over the place.”
Many women experience emotional ups and downs in pregnancy but when feeling blue or sad for a few days becomes a regular thing and the sadness, anxiety and other negative emotions get in the way of everyday life, experts say it might be depression.
Prenatal depression is common. About 13 percent (more than one in 10) of pregnant women and new mothers experience depression.
Thankfully, Charlotte said the fog had lifted after ten days but does worry it could return in the form of postnatal depression.
She said: “After 10 days I suddenly started to feel better and my mood and energy lifted, but it felt like such a long period of time – those 10 days felt like a month.
“I do get scared that I could get postnatal depression because I had that experience. If I do, I’ll talk about it because, honestly, the second I spoke to Jake about how I was feeling, I felt better. He didn’t know what to say but it was just better for me to let that out.”
Charlotte met Jake on social media four months after splitting with ex Liam Beaumont, and has described him as the “perfect man” for supporting her through the challenges of pregnancy, both physically and emotionally.
“I can’t fault him, he doesn’t let me lift a finger,” she smiles. “He does the cleaning, the washing, he does absolutely everything. He can’t cook at all and he’s started watching YouTube tutorials and is slowly but surely making me feel like he’s learning.
“He’s so cute. He is the perfect man, from the bottom of his soul. I think he should start a school teaching men how to be the perfect boyfriend. He talks to the baby all the time.”
Charlotte and Jake found out they were having a daughter at a rooftop gender reveal party in June, enjoying a prime view of the Newcastle skyline. A plane drew a heart in the sky, then a “G” to confirm they were having a girl.
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