Emmy Rossum is explaining why she talks so openly about PCOS, IVF and postpartum anxiety. The "Furious" star said candid conversations can help normalize scary and unfamiliar changes in people's brains and bodies.
Why share something so personal? "It doesn't really cost me anything," she told InStyle. She added that people should be able to talk about the parts of the body that aren't working.
Her own road to motherhood was not simple. Rossum said she had debilitating ovarian cysts through her 20s and tried to conceive naturally before turning to IVF. PCOS has recently been renamed polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS).
After her baby was born, she faced a different struggle. She called her postpartum anxiety very intense, with unwanted, intrusive thoughts. She said there were moments she wondered if she would ever feel like herself again. Her answer to that isolation is community. "We really need our village," she said.
The conversation comes as she stars in Hulu's thriller "Furious." It premiered July 27, and she plays FBI agent Alice Black.
If you or someone you love is struggling after childbirth, the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline offers free, confidential support at 1-833-852-6262, and in a crisis you can call 988.
