Kajal Aggarwal Took Therapy, Anti-Depressants For Postpartum Blues: 'I Would Get Hyper, Angry, Cry For No Reason...'

Kajal Aggarwal recently sat down to open up about the challenges motherhood brings as one navigates a career in the movies.

Kajal Aggarwal has established herself in the South cinema industry over the years with a variety of roles. The actor who recently got married, and then pregnant and delivered her baby, Neil recently sat down to open up about the challenges motherhood brings as one navigates a career in the movies. In an interaction with PREMA, the journalist, Kajal shed light on mom guilt, balancing work-life, and more.

Kajal Aggarwal on post-partum blues

When asked if she was riddled with postpartum blues and mom guilt as she resumed working two months postpartum on a full-fledged actioner like 'Indian 2', Kajal called it 'hormonal', saying that you cannot control it. Calling it a huge challenge, Kajal called it, "the toughest thing I have done in my life to balance it." 

Recalling an incident, Kajal said, "I was shooting 2 hours from tirupati, so I took my baby and my mom and the entire help to Tirupati. I would go every morning for 2 hours one-way. I would pump milk, send the milk back for my child, 2 hours…. Then the car would come back to pick me up in 2 hours. That's 6 hours already the car has traveled, then I would pack up, pump milk on my way back in the car, and travel back two hours. So, to and fro, I would send milk for my baby and what I could do. There was no other way.”

Talking about post-partum blues and how natural it is for every girl to go through, Kajal said that everyone goes through it to some degree. 

Kajal Aggarwal on postpartum depression

Talking about her journey, Kajal said, "I was very anxious. I had my fair share of insecurities. I would get hyper, I would get angry. My husband was the number one victim of all of this and I would remove it on him. I would start crying for no rhyme or reason. I would love my baby to bits but I would be crying for no reason. There was this dichotomy that even I could not fathom and understand why I was feeling all those things. It's an integral part of the woman to adjust. You are also a mother for the first time. You are also going through these experiences for the first time like your baby is."

Kajal added how she would cry before going to work every day but thanks to her husband and team and close family she was able to live through a difficult phase of her life. "The separation anxiety during tirupati was more for me than it was for my baby. He was only three months old. He wouldn't know the difference."

Talking about the guilt, and crying at work every day, Kajal shed light on mom guilt. "I took therapy to deal with it and a short course of supervised anti-depressants when it was safe to take them. Nothing much changed after I got married but motherhood changed me as a person. Having a baby is challenging.”