Being a new mom is one of the most amazing, scary, wonderful, stressful, and fulfilling experiences women will ever face. New mothers have no idea what they’re doing, even if they’ve read every single parenting books. A baby is unique and will come with their own little quirks and differences. Parents just have to figure out what their new baby needs, and once they figure it out, babies will have changed again.

As a new mom, hormones will be unbalanced and can make a shy mom a little whacky.  I would just cry for no reason after my baby was born. I once stood in my shower, sideways, because I was so swollen from giving birth that I couldn’t stand straight, I bawled and completely fell apart. It’s so important for people to remember, and understand this, and try to sympathize with new moms.

These 16 celeb moms share their biggest struggles with being a new mom. It may be shocking, but a lot of celebs deal with the same issues as we do. These celeb moms struggle with postpartum depression, infertility, having second kids and learning how to balance life, and the difficulty of having to leave their baby to go back to work. These are some of the emotional stories from some of our favorite celeb mom’s.

15 Hayden Panettiere

Hayden Panettiere is one of my favorite actresses. She stole my heart in Remember the Titans, and I have loved all of her work. She has one daughter, Kaya, who is 3. After giving birth she struggled with postpartum depression.

In an interview on Live with Kelly and Michael, Hayden said, "It's something that I can very much relate to, and it's something that I know a lot of women experience. When they tell you about postpartum depression, you think about, 'Okay, I feel negative feelings towards my child, I want to injure my child, I want to hurt my child'—I've never ever had those feelings, and some women do."

Hayden later received professional help to ease her struggles. The struggle with postpartum depression is very real, and it can be a scary thing.  Postpartum depression affects 13% of woman after giving birth. Postpartum depression wasn’t a well-known topic for many years. Women were simply labeled erratic or emotional. However, it is a very real situation. More women should feel comfortable talking about it and getting the help they need and deserve.

14 Zoe Saldana

Zoe Saldana is an amazing actress and is in some of my favorite movies. But she did have to make sacrifices to be able to do that. She went back to work after having her twins, Bowie and Cy, in 2014. It’s not easy leaving your babies, but it’s something some moms have to do.

Zoe had this to say on the subject, in an interview with Us Weekly, “We have to pay bills and at the end of the day, I think that's the best example we can set to our children. We're very determined and we can't just leave everything behind and just focus on them. But it's painful."

I know it was very difficult for her, and for all moms having to go back to work and leave their babies, but it’s something that must be done.

13 Tia Mowry

Tia Mowry is one of the twin sisters, Tia and Tamera, know from Disney shows such as Sister Sister, and Twitches. Tia became a mom in 2011 when she had her son, Cree. Afterward, she struggled with postpartum depression and later found that she also struggled with infertility.

In an interview with People magazine, she had this to say: "I didn’t think I’d be able to have a second child, and it’s been over seven years since my first pregnancy. I put it off, but I did want to have another child.”

She actually did end up getting pregnant and is still expecting.

"That said, I just feel so much joy with [this pregnancy]. Also, who knows if I’ll ever be able to get pregnant again? So I am embracing and enjoying every moment...Even with my fashion, I’m like, 'I was a fashionista before — I’m gonna still be one while I’m pregnant.'

I’m not gonna force myself into pregnancy pants!"

Tia is most certainly a very fashionable lady. I’m so glad she brought that with her into her second pregnancy. I wish her all the best.

12 Nicole Kidman

Nicole Kidman is an amazing actress. She is beautiful, funny and stars in some hilarious movies like Just Go with It and The Stepford Wives. Nicole has struggled with infertility for many years. She had an ectopic pregnancy when she was married to Tom Cruise, and later adopted her two kids, Connor, 23, and Isabella, 25.

She did have one successful pregnancy with her current husband Keith Urban’s first child together. Sunday Rose 9 was her rainbow baby. They later had their second child together Faith 7 through a surrogate.

In an interview with Australia’s 60 Minutes, Nicole had this to say about her struggle with fertility, "I've had a very, very roller coaster ride with fertility. It has never been easy for me."

11 Bryce Dallas Howard

Bryce Dallas Howard struggled with extreme postpartum depression, she said that she cried every day. She shared her story on Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop website.

“[My husband] would ask what he could do to help, but knowing there was nothing he could do, I screamed expletives at him, behavior he had never experienced in the seven years we had been together,”

She cried every day and struggled to form a bond with her son. Bryce struggled with postpartum depression for about 18 months, which only got better due to therapy. It is important to get the help you need if you suspect you have postpartum depression.

“Do I wish I had never endured postpartum depression? Absolutely. But to deny the experience is to deny who I am. I still mourn the loss of what could have been, but I also feel deep gratitude for those who stood by me, for the lesson that we must never be afraid to ask for help, and for the feeling of summer that still remains.”

I’m so glad that she found help and is in a much better place now.

10 Elizabeth Banks

Elizabeth Banks is one of my all-time favorite actresses. She is funny and sweet. One of my favorite movies of hers is, ‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting”. In it, her character struggles with infertility and has a very difficult time getting pregnant. Eventually, she finds out she is pregnant and is extremely happy.

I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for her to play that role, as she herself struggles with infertility and to date has never had a successful pregnancy. She and her husband, Max Handelman, tried for years but were unsuccessful. They decided to try to have a baby through a surrogate.

Elizabeth had this to say in an interview with Women’s Health, "It was, frankly, the only way my husband and I, who have been together for nearly 20 years, could have a child that was half him and half me. So, for us, it was absolutely the way to go."

She now has two sons, Felix, 7, and Mangus, 5.

9 Sherri Shepherd

Sherrie Shepherd is a hilarious and beautiful actress. She has 2 beautiful sons, Lamar Sally Jr. 3, and Jeffrey Charles Tarpley 12. She had struggled with fertility with both of them. With Jeffrey, her oldest son, she tried for years to get pregnant. Finally, she successfully became pregnant using in-vitro. She conceived twins, a boy, and girl but miscarried the girl at 11 weeks. Jeffery was born prematurely, at five a half months and only weighed 1 pound 10 ounces.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Shepherd had this to say about her experience, “It was hard because you go through guilt that something is wrong with you, or maybe you waited too long. It was a lot of shots, a lot of false pregnancies and a lot of tears.”

With her son Lamar Jr. she didn’t want to go through all the pain of trying to get pregnant, so she decided to use a surrogate. In the midst of her baby being grown by a surrogate, she separated from his father and had to go through tough custody battles.

8 Sarah Jessica Parker

Sarah Jessica Parker struggled with fertility as she got older. In 2002, she, successfully, became pregnant and gave birth to her son, James, 15. Afterward, they tried again for years, unsuccessfully, and eventually decided to use a surrogate.

In an interview with Access Hollywood, she had this to say, "We've been trying to expand our family for a number of years and we actually have explored a variety of ways of doing so. [Using a surrogate] was one of those things we discussed with seriousness that had real possibilities for us. I couldn't pretend otherwise. It would be odd to have made this choice if I was able to, you know, have successful pregnancies since my son's birth."

With the surrogate, they were able to have twin girls, Marion and Tabitha, 8.

7 Vanessa Lachey

Vanessa Lachey is so adorable! She is one of those real moms, who don’t try to hide how it really is. I addictively watched her and husband Nick Lachey on Dancing With The Stars last season. Vanessa talked about the scary birth of her son and almost losing him, luckily he was fine. Vanessa also struggled with postpartum depression with her first son. She took to her blog to share her experiences:

“The fear of not knowing what I’m doing. The fear of ‘messing up’ this little boy. The fear of being responsible for a human being and not knowing any ‘life’ experiences to compare moments with him to. No matter how many books you read, NOTHING prepares you better than the real thing. I felt lost, unloved, alone and at my wits end. It’s weird, too, because I have an amazing and supportive husband, his loving family and wonderful friends. I felt like NO ONE understood me. No one knows my thoughts, my fears, my wishes… heck, I didn’t even know my own wishes. Nick would say, ‘What can I do?’ and I’d say, ‘I don’t know!’ And it’s true! I didn’t know!”

6 Gwen Stefani

Gwen Stefani is so cute, I just love her. She has three boys, Kingston, 11, Zuma 9, and Apollo 4. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Gwen shared her struggles with going back to work after having a baby:

“I remember when I did the Love. Angel. Music. Baby. Album. I’d just gotten married and just started L.A.M.B.; I was doing my first thing outside of my band and I made that record, and it was a magical time. And then I got pregnant, right before my tour, with [first son] Kingston, and then eight weeks after I gave birth I went back in the studio, because I was like ’I gotta put another record out’ because I didn’t feel done. I still had a lot of songs that I hadn’t put out from the first record. But it’s just different once you have a baby. There’s no way to go back to having the 4 freedom that you had creatively because your energy is always going to be focused on the kids. Family and marriage and all those things have to come first, and it’s really different.”

Gwen also struggled with fertility with her youngest son, Apollo. In an interview with Marie Claire, she had this to say, "I really, really, really wanted one about two years ago. And it didn't really work out. So...I feel good with what we've got. Everything works out how it should. You can't plan anything, right? You can try."

She later did end up getting pregnant, after trying for 4 years. Unfortunately, a women’s fertility can drop as she ages. That is what happened with Gwen, as she had no issues getting pregnant with her first two boys.

5  Tina Fey

Tina Fey is one of the funniest actresses on this list. She is a mom of two, Alice Zenobia, 12, and Penelope Athena, 6. Tina has felt judged for being a working mother, she wrote the following in an essay for The New Yorker:

“’How do you juggle it all?’People constantly ask me, with an accusatory look in their eyes. ‘you’re screwing it all up, aren’t you?’ Their eyes say, my standard answer is that I have the same struggles as any working parent but with the good fortune to be working my dream job. Or sometimes I just hand them a juicy red apple I’ve poisoned in my working-mother witch cauldron and fly away.”

Tina is hilarious in all aspects of life, including telling people to mind their own business. She chose to follow her love of acting and she shouldn’t be judged for that.

4  Chrissy Teigen

Chrissy Teigen is widely known for her witty tweets and sweet demeanor. In 2016, She became a mom to her daughter, Luna. She struggled with getting pregnant for a long time and ended up having a successful pregnancy using in-vitro. But, unfortunately, her struggles didn’t end there. Chrissy also struggled with postpartum depression.

She wrote this in an essay for Glamour, "What basically everyone around me — but me knew up until December was this: I have postpartum depression. How can I feel this way when everything is so great? This is so sad, to want a baby so bad get pregnant and have your hormones give you postpartum depression so you have a hard time enjoying being a mom."

Chrissy and her husband, John Legend, are expecting another baby later this year.

3 Drew Barrymore

Drew Barrymore stars in many of my favorite movies, Fever Pitch, Never Been Kissed, Ever After. She is so funny and charismatic. She has two beautiful little girls, Olive, 5 and Frankie, 3. Drew struggled with postpartum depression after having her second daughter.

In an interview with people magazine Drew had this to say about her struggle, “I didn’t have postpartum the first time so I didn’t understand it because I was like, ‘I feel great!’ The second time, I was like, ‘Oh, whoa, I see what people talk about now. I understand’. It’s a different type of overwhelming with the second I really got under the cloud.”

Drew has said that she only had postpartum depression for about 6 months, but she was glad for the experience because it taught her to stay present at the moment.

2 Claire Danes

Like many new moms, Claire Danes struggled with going back to work, or even wanting to go back to work. As a new mom, you can get so engulfed in all things baby (since babies are so adorable, it’s very easy to do.) But, you must also remember that you have to get out and do things for yourself. That’s exactly what she did.

In an interview with Your Tango, Claire had this to say on going back to work, “I was very anxious about returning to work. I had all sorts of exaggerated fears—the biggest one being will I ever want to work again? But, in fact, I do and it's been great.”

Claire, like many moms, was very unsure of leaving her baby and going back to work. She found that she still loved it and that she was glad she didn’t let anxiety stop her.

1 Sarah Michelle Gellar

Sarah Michelle Geller was my iconic tough girl growing up, playing the extremely popular Buffy The Vampire Slayer. She played a totally awesome Daphne, in Scooby Doo, with her husband, Freddie Prinze Jr. The two later had two children, Charlotte and Rocky. Sarah shocked us all when she posted, on Instagram, that years ago she struggled with postpartum depression, after her 2009 pregnancy.

She had this to say about her struggles, "Having kids is wonderful, and life-changing, and rarely what you're prepared for. I love my children more than anything in the world. But like a lot of women, I too struggled with postpartum depression after my first baby was born. I got help and made it through, and every day since has been the best gift I could ever have asked for.”

References: www.romper.com, www.parents.com, www.parenting.com, www.essence.com, www.health.com, www.fame10.com,  www.todaysparent.com, www.thisisinside.com, www.celebritybabies.people.com, www.nydailynews.com, www.en.wikipedia.org