Lena Headey, who plays the merciless Cersei Lannister on Game of Thrones, has  opened up about her past struggles with postpartum depression and ‘mummy-shaming’.

 

When her daughter, Teddy, was born in April 2015, a hospital nurse chanted “Shame!” while Lena was breastfeeding. Needless to say, Lena felt a little embarrassed. 

 

To bring a bit of context into this for people who have never seen the show, her character was forced to perform a naked “walk of shame” back in season five. Members of a religious cult, Faith of the Seven, chant “shame” at Cersei for her “sins”.

 

Lena told The New York Times: "The story ends with the nurse, nipples in hand, chanting 'Shame' as she’s milking me like a human cow.”  

 

Although the 43-year-old was partly sedated and can’t remember it fully, she’s pretty sure the nurse meant it as a joke.

 

“I was flying on morphine, so it was sort of funny,” the actress added. “Had I been vaguely in the world, I might have been more offended.”

 

 

Back in 2011, when Lena was filming the first season of Game of Thrones, she was officially diagnosed with postnatal depression. She had just had her son, Wylie, and was going through a divorce with her then husband, musician Peter Loughran. She admits that whole situation was incredibly taxing for her.

 

“I was post-natally depressed, but I didn't know it. I saw a doctor for the medical check, and I just burst into tears. She said I was post-natally depressed and I went, 'Am I? Why is that?'" Lena said in the latest issue of The EDIT

 

"I saw a great guy and he sorted me out, but I did the first year [on Game of Thrones] in that space, figuring out motherhood and going through a weird time personally. It was tricky."

 

In her interview with The Telegraph, she admitted that she had suffered from bouts of clinical depression since her teens. She never took medication for it until she was diagnosed with PND.

 

 

“I had postnatal depression, which I didn’t realise for a long time...I went to a guy who mixes Western and Eastern philosophy in terms of medicine and put me on a course of something that changed everything,” she said.

 

The latest season of Game of Thrones will be aired July 16. We here at MummyPages can’t wait!

 

Headey is one of several stars who have opened up about their battle with postpartum depression, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Drew Barrymore, Katie Price, Sharon Osbourne, Brooke Shields, Elle Macpherson and Hayden Panettiere.

 

You can find out more about this condition here, and find out good ways to maintain postnatal health and fitness

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