In her 2026 book This is Me: A Reckoning, Hayden Panettiere disclosed the brand Neutrogena discontinued her 10-year working relationship after she spontaneously spoke in 2015 on Live with Kelly and Michael identifying with her character on the show Nashville who had symptoms of postpartum depression.
She said: “It’s something a lot of women experience. When (you are told) about postpartum depression, you think it’s ‘I feel negative feelings toward my child; I want to injure or hurt my child.’ I’ve never ever had those feelings. Some women do.”
When promoting her book, Panettiere shared she was shocked the brand wanted to cut ties over this issue. Her agent said it was illegal for the contract to end immediately due to a medical condition, but it was not renewed the following year. Panettiere writes in her book, “Of all the things that I have been caught doing, that being the thing they drew the line on as immoral was shocking to me and made me realize exactly what people thought of women who experience postpartum depression.”
Julia Goldie Day
Panettiere died only three months later of cardiac arrest on Aug. 16.
Lindsay Clancy was a labor and delivery nurse and gave birth to her third child in Plymouth, Mass. A health care professional who worked with women every day and had a copy of Good Moms Have Scary Thoughts, she made many attempts to obtain help, but it seems no one could help her. Clancy suffered a severe postpartum mental health crisis in January 2023, attempted to check herself into two mental health facilities but was denied or discharged because she couldn’t produce a clear suicide plan. Now she is on trial for strangling her children.
What went wrong?
Postpartum psychosis is being argued in her criminal case — a rare condition (one or two cases in 1,000 births) which develops quickly after childbirth, within two weeks. An urgent psychiatric medical emergency, treatable if caught early by going to the emergency room. The medical system, Clancy’s husband and immediate family failed her, resulting in the death of her children. She jumped out of a second story window, in an apparent attempt to end her life. The truth is Lindsay Clancy never will fully recover even if she is found not guilty.
Both Clancy and Panettiere were treated with the same class of medication, benzodiazepines or benzos. Panettiere wrote that she became addicted to Klonopin, a benzos drug, and alcohol after the birth of her daughter. She had a difficult birth, an emergency C-section which required many blood transfusions and procedures to save her life. Clancy couldn’t sleep and became dependent on Ativan, a benzos class drug. Her insomnia seems to indicate her vulnerability to develop mania, or psychosis.
“Gossip is free, child care is not,” says researcher Neal K. Shal of John Hopkins University when reporting on this very issue. We are blaming women instead of fixing systems. The shame and fear of losing your child if you speak up about your mental health is real. Punishing women for not being able to do the impossible is more popular than ever.
The drama of these women’s stories may pique our curiosity, but what must we learn from their heartbreaking stories?
About one in eight American mothers experience the same symptoms of the frightening medical condition Panettiere described. But those statistics are only from women who report symptoms to their providers. In reality, these symptoms are thought to be much more common than the numbers suggest.
There is a shortage of maternal health care providers. Many existing providers are not trained sufficiently to care for mental health needs. Mothers fear losing their children if they report symptoms, especially nonwhite women. Mental health care providers are even more scarce. For example, the U.S. has only five maternal perinatal inpatient mental health units where mothers and babies can stay together.
“Women are suffering. These two mothers have shown us this reality in the most tangible of ways.”
High costs of child care, health care, food, housing, gas, along with lack of paid maternity leave and the female pay gap also affect the mental health of postpartum women. We must additionally understand mothers carry an invisible emotional load fathers can refuse to help bear. Women tend to do more of the household labor and provide more care for their children even when they spend equal time in the workforce.
Women are suffering. These two mothers have shown us this reality in the most tangible of ways.
We need fewer baby showers and more baby-sitting.
Lindsay Clancy on the seventh day of her murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court on August 5, 2026. (Photo by David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Churches may be guiltiest of this sin. Mothers-to-be are given beautiful baby gifts but are not truly welcome to breastfeed in the sanctuary or bring a fussy baby anywhere near a sermon or Bible study. Mothers are expected to separate easily from a newborn, leaving them with a stranger in the church nursery, expected to lose the baby weight right away and get right back to church or work — no crying!
Churches would rather not deal with women in this stage of life. Most people are just plain embarrassed because childbirth typically involves sex to get pregnant and give birth, which involves genitals, and feeding can involve breasts (which is best for the child). Hormones and emotions are high. Patriarchy teaches the false idea that all these womanly things are to be feared, evil even.
I will tell you from personal experience, women cannot birth a child without pain and suffering. It is hard, hard work. Our bodies and our minds must have time to heal. For some it is trauma that must be healed with the difficult work of therapy and proper medication. We must have support from the people around us to help us care for our children. Love often takes a painful path, and we must not face it alone.
For mothers who are suffering, I pray in the name of Jesus who was born of a woman, born in blood and water, for healing, justice and mercy. Amen.
Julia Goldie Day is an ordained minister within the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and lives in Memphis, Tenn. She is a painter and proud mother to Jasper, Barak and Jillian. Learn more at her website or follow her on socials @JuliaGoldieDay.