Rachel Platten Wants to Help Other Women Experiencing Postpartum Depression: 'We're Not Bad Moms' (Exclusive) (2024)

Rachel Platten is opening up about her experience with postpartum depression — and offering advice to other parents going through the same thing.

On Wednesday, the “Fight Song” singer, 42, spoke exclusively with PEOPLE while attending Audacy's Leading Ladies event, which was presented by Olay Body. Discussing the strong women who have influenced her life, she also spoke about feeling empowered as a mom who worked through her postpartum depression.

According to Platten, one of the most influential women (aside from Oprah, whom she says she’d “love to meet”) is her mom, Pamela.

“We've really worked hard on our relationship and become best friends and it’s the best thing,” she says of her mom. “She helps me so much with my children … so that I can be on the road, it's a really big gift. I love her.”

The mom-of-two has previously been open with fans about her journey with postpartum depression — now, she wants to advocate for others experiencing mental health issues.

“Having experienced it, unfortunately, personally, I really want to do as much as I can to help advocate for other moms so they don't feel alone in that experience,” she says. “It can be really isolating and scary and lonely. And I think the more that we are vulnerable and help each other and, you know, share our experiences and take our masks off, I think it allows us to feel the community and know that it's not weird.”

“We're not doing something wrong,” she continued, adding that she wants mothers to feel like it’s OK to ask for help. “We're not bad moms. It's just real and unfortunately, it’s our hormones and that there's help.”

For Platten, songwriting played a major role in her journey to recovery.

“It is really important to share, and also not only share the pain, but share how I've climbed my way out of it,” Platten says.

“I just released a song called ‘Mercy’ that really was… I wrote at a moment of true desperation and it was the way out at that moment,” she adds. “So, my hope is that these songs that I'm gonna share and continue to release will be that vehicle and that way out for other people.”

Platten is mom to daughters, Violent, 5, and 2-year-old Sophie, who she shares with her husband of nearly 15 years, Kevin Lazan. Right now, she says, is the longest stretch of time she’s ever been away from her kids.

“Oh my God, I miss them so much,” she says. “... I hope never to do longer.”

Regardless, she still gets the major updates from her family back home, she says.

“Sophie did just learn how to kick a soccer ball. She's really proud of herself. She's two,” Platten gushes. “And she’s like ‘I kick! I kick! I kick!’ ”

“And Violet just learned how to read,” she continues. “She just turned five and she's so proud of herself. It's really amazing to watch them start to develop these life skills that we take for granted and just the innocent joy they get from it. It’s really sweet.”

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Platten spoke extensively about her own experiences with postpartum depression in 2022, revealing that her mental health issues were “incredibly painful.”

“I feel so proud of myself, I got through an incredibly painful battle with my mental health, long days that felt impossible and tears that wouldn't stop coming and nights that felt never ending when my poor scared body wouldn't let me sleep," she wrote in an Instagram post at the time. “I tried every tool possible, even ones I was previously scared of, and finally now I’m feeling consistent joy, ease, power and real hope again.”

In another post in 2021, Platten wrote that she “hid from social media for 2 months because of” her postpartum depression.

"I don't want one other single mother out there to experience the same feelings of shame, loneliness and fear that I did if maybe reading about my story NOW can help you,” she wrote at the time, revealing why she wanted to speak up about her depression. “Because this can be hell if you think you're alone.”

Platten added the “reality” of the postpartum experience is not talked about "enough" because "so often mothers are shocked that it is nothing like they expected,” and added that it can feel like a “daily mental rollercoaster.”

“I’m sorry I've hid this from everyone. I didn't want to suffer in public, not again. but I know sometimes this community is exactly the thing I need to remember how loved and supported I am, how much we all are,” she concluded the post.

The singer-songwriter most recently released her track “Girls,” which she said was inspired by her 100-year-old neighbor, whom she began an unlikely friendship with during the COVID pandemic.

If you or someone you know needs mental health help, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.