The rumors are true: Halle Bailey is a real-life princess. A talented singer and actor (you might know her as Ariel in Disney’s live action “The Little Mermaid,” or one half of R&B duo Chloe x Halle), she’s the type of person that attracts the spotlight. If you didn’t know any better, you might assume her life is perfect. But for all her light, Bailey has also dealt with her fair share of darkness.
In January 2024, after a very private pregnancy, Bailey announced the birth of her son, Halo. Shortly afterwards, she started speaking out about her experience with postpartum depression, which she described as “severe” in an April 2024 video. “It’s really a different version of ourselves that we become,” Bailey tells Popsugar at Project Pit’s annual Maternal Health Summit.
Bailey previously likened PPD to swimming in “the biggest waves you’ve ever felt” in an April 2024 interview with People. But given the size of her platform, it wasn’t always easy to be this vulnerable. She drew courage from the fellow moms offering up support in her comments section. “It helps you so much to grow through it when you know that other women are going through the same feelings that you are,” she tells PS.
“You are not alone, and you are loved.”
Social media has been helpful, but it can also be overwhelming – and Bailey has had to draw boundaries here, too. The compounding pressures of being a new mom expected to be picture perfect, a Black women expected to be impossibly strong, and a celebrity under constant scrutiny can take a serious toll. When all these factors culminate into one judgmental spiral, how do you keep your head above water?
For Bailey, it’s all about embracing the new parts of yourself, rather than fighting against them. “I’m a way stronger version of myself,” she says. “I feel like I am for sure mama bear. I know how to make boundaries, I know how to stand up for myself now, whereas before, I don’t think that version of me really existed . . . well, she was in there somewhere, but now she’s come out.”
For those dealing with postpartum depression for the first time, Bailey’s advice is to lean on your support system. “Get your trust and strength from other people that love you, [who can] hold you and lift you up in times when you feel discouraged,” she says. “You are not alone, and you are loved, and you have so many people around you that love you, and you are meant to be here.”
Ultimately, the stigma surrounding maternal mental health only further isolates parents, when in reality, about one in eight women experience PPD after giving birth (although this number can be closer to one in five for some states, per PostpartumDepression.org). For those in the midst of it, Bailey swears there is hope to be found – even if it doesn’t always feel that way.
“[Postpartum’s] honestly a beautiful experience too,” Bailey says. “It’s kind of like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. It’s painful at times, but you evolve into something greater.”
Chandler Plante (she/her) is a social producer and staff writer for the Health & Fitness team at Popsugar. She has over five years of industry experience, previously working as an editorial assistant for People magazine, a social media manager for Millie magazine, and a contributor for Bustle Digital Group. She has a degree in magazine journalism from Syracuse University and is based in Los Angeles.
