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Navigating motherhood can be a deeply personal and sometimes challenging journey. For Joy-Anna Forsyth, formerly Duggar, the road has been particularly tough.
During the Wednesday, October 16 episode of The Unplanned Podcast, the 26-year-old reality TV alum shared her battle with postpartum depression, shedding light on her difficult experiences after the births of her kids — Giddeon, 6, Evelyn, 4 and Gunner 1 — whom she shares with husband Austin Forsyth.
When host Abby Howard asked if her experience with postpartum depression was only with her third child, Joy-Anna replied, "Well, my third was the worst, I didn't know really with my first what was happening, but I remember, I was, like, 'I'm in a fog, like I just don't feel myself,' and it was probably for six months, so it wasn't bad."
The TLC star went on to explain that she had a stillbirth after Giddeon was born — a baby girl named Annabelle. After that loss, Joy-Anna had what she described as "baby blues" for another six months, adding that her postpartum experience with her next child, Evelyn, was "not too bad."
Discussing life after the birth of her youngest son, the former 19 Kids and Counting icon said, "With Gunner, I had a super hard postpartum, and it was like the darkest time of my life." Joy-Anna attributed her severe postpartum depression to neglecting her own health during pregnancy, particularly skimping on proper nutrition, rest, and vitamins.
However, it wasn't just the hormonal shifts that rocked her world. During this period, her siblings, Jinger Duggar Vuolo and Jill Duggar Dillard, released books that shook her foundational beliefs. "My whole Christianity was always a checklist," Joy-Anna confessed. "I gotta read my Bible, check. I gotta pray, check... And so I feel like it all came just crumbling down [during my] postpartum. My family had a lot of struggles at that time, and then these books come out, and I had to work through these things that I had."
Joy-Anna discovered a significant boost in her well-being once she stopped breastfeeding and shifted her focus to fitness and nutritious eating. "But when I stopped nursing, and started working out was really, really healthy for me. And then just eating healthier, I saw a huge, drastic change," she shared.
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