Lisa Rinna Shares Her Journey with Postpartum Depression
Lisa Rinna shared her experiences with severe postpartum depression after the births of her daughters, Delilah Belle and Amelia Gray.
“I struggled with intense postpartum depression, but at the time, I didn’t recognize it,” the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum, 61, revealed during the Friday, April 18, episode of her “Let’s Not Talk About the Husband” podcast. “When you have your first child, you’re often unaware of what to expect. You simply don’t know.”
Rinna admitted that she dealt with the mental health challenge for 15 months after the birth of Delilah, now 26, in 1998. When the depression resurfaced after Amelia’s arrival, her husband, Harry Hamlin, became concerned.
“You said, ‘I’m gonna kill you,’” Hamlin, 73, reminisced about the time following Amelia’s birth in 2001. “And I responded, ‘You better call [your OB-GYN] right now.’ You warned me, ‘You better watch out. I feel like killing you.’ You even said, ‘Keep the knives in the drawer.’”
While Rinna didn’t recall threatening her husband, she did remember experiencing violent “visions” during that difficult time.
“I had horrifying hallucinations of wanting to harm people and I felt the need to remove the knives from my home. I also had dreadful visions of driving my car into a brick wall,” the former soap star clarified. “I never envisioned harming my baby in any capacity; it was all about a sense of hopelessness and deep depression, alongside these terrifying visions and hallucinations. It revolved around the knives and crashing my car.”
Hamlin urged Rinna to contact her doctor, who prescribed antidepressants to help with her condition.
“It worked right away; it transformed everything,” Rinna stated. “It changed the entire experience in an instant.”
She also reflected that her first experience with postpartum depression didn’t involve the same alarming “visions” that followed Amelia’s birth.
“[The first time] I felt utterly hopeless. That’s the only way to describe it,” she recounted. “I felt like a massive dark cloud was enveloping me. I struggle to find the words because it didn’t manifest toward the baby; it was directed at myself. In hindsight, I would say I was completely psychotic.”
Rinna emphasized the necessity of openly discussing postpartum depression, as many individuals face it without any assistance.
“Honestly, I believe no woman should endure suffering through postpartum depression,” she expressed. “I know many do, and often they do so in silence.”
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.
