Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin openly delved into the actress's battle with postpartum depression following the arrivals of their daughters on the April 18th episode of their podcast, "Let's Not Talk About the Husband." The couple reflected on their parenting journey, pregnancies, and postpartum experiences with their daughters, Delilah Belle, 26, and Amelia Gray, 23.
"I was plagued by severe postpartum depression, yet I was oblivious to it," confessed Rinna, 61. "With your first child, you're clueless about such things."
Hamlin, 73, chimed in, suggesting that postpartum depression is a widespread issue, sharing personal anecdotes about his sister-in-laws and cousin who had also struggled with it. The "Mad Men" actor then recounted a harrowing incident where Rinna had threatened him. "We attended a movie in Bracebridge, and you said, 'I'm going to kill you,'" Hamlin recalled. "My immediate response was, 'You need to call Howie [her OB-GYN] now!'"
"Did I really say that?" Rinna inquired, her eyes widening.
"You said, 'Be careful. I feel like killing you,' and added, 'Keep the knives in a drawer,'" Hamlin recounted, his voice tinged with concern.
The moment dawned on Rinna, who acknowledged, "I was haunted by terrifying visions. It's true. I hallucinated about killing people. I had to remove all knives from the house. I also imagined driving the car into a brick wall."
She clarified, "My visions never involved harming the baby in any capacity. It was about despair, profound depression, and those harrowing visions and hallucinations—knives and cars crashing into walls."
Hamlin elaborated that following Rinna's chilling statement, he urged her to contact her OB-GYN immediately, who prescribed antidepressants that took approximately three weeks to kick in fully.
Rinna also pointed out that her experiences varied between her daughters, emphasizing that she hadn't experienced the same visions after Delilah's birth in 1998. "I was utterly hopeless," she admitted. "It's difficult to articulate because my depression wasn't directed towards the baby. It was directed towards myself. In retrospect, I was completely psychotic."
According to the Cleveland Clinic, postpartum depression is a form of depression that sets in after childbirth and can affect not just birth mothers but also surrogates and adoptive parents.
