Singer Alanis Morissette has revealed she suffered thoughts of death and dipped into psychosis during her severe battle with postpartum depression following the birth of her children.
The 52-year-old musician, best known for her hit single Ironic, opened up about her maternal health struggles during an interview on the Call Her Daddy podcast with pregnant host Alex Cooper.
Morissette explained that while she was previously familiar with general depression, the symptoms she experienced after childbirth involved intense terror and ceaseless invasive thoughts.
"The depression piece inside PPD, unfortunately and fortunately I was familiar with it. It was all the other stuff," Morissette told Cooper during the podcast appearance. "It was the invasive thoughts and the terror. All I could picture was death and terrible things."
Struggles with mental health after childbirth
The Canadian-born artist shares three children with her husband, 46-year-old hip-hop artist Mario "Souleye" Treadaway, whom she married in 2010. The couple are parents to 15-year-old son Ever, 10-year-old daughter Onyx, and seven-year-old son Winter.
Her eldest child was born on Christmas Day in 2010, while her youngest arrived in August 2019. Morissette noted that she experienced postpartum depression following each pregnancy, and the severity of the condition escalated with every child.
"From my experience, each postpartum depression gets increasingly harder," Morissette admitted during the interview. She added that despite the overwhelming difficulty, she "just wanted to meet my kids, though, so badly, so I kept going."
Following the birth of her third child in 2019, Morissette explained that she gradually lost touch with reality as her condition worsened into psychosis.
"Basically, I became another person," the singer recalled. "All the hormones are all over the place. There's some version of menopausal flux, combined with depression, invasive thoughts that are so harrowing, terrible, ceaseless."
Loss of trust and medical context
Because of the wide range of symptoms beyond low mood, Morissette told Cooper that she prefers to use the term "postpartum activity" to describe her experiences, noting that traditional depression makes up only a portion of the symptoms.
While Morissette stated that she is happy today, she admitted that one of the most painful aspects of her illness was losing other people's trust in her mental stability.
She explained that friends and acquaintances began looking at her differently out of concern for her wellbeing.
"They looked at me like I maybe couldn't be trusted or was going to fly off the handle," she said. "And that's not my thing."
According to health organisations including the Mayo Clinic and Postpartum Progress, postpartum depression belongs to a broader group of illnesses known as perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.
Medical experts note that women experiencing these disorders may face difficulty bonding with their baby, trouble enjoying motherhood, bouts of intense anger or rage, frequent crying, persistent feelings of being overwhelmed, or thoughts of self-harm and running away.
Seeking help and touring while struggling
Morissette revealed that her timeline for seeking medical treatment shifted dramatically across her three pregnancies as she became more aware of the warning signs.
After her first child was born in 2010, Morissette waited one year and two months before admitting she needed professional help. Following her second birth, she waited eight months before seeking assistance.
By the time her third child arrived in 2019, she recognized the onset of the condition almost immediately.
"Third time, I think I waited three days," she said. "I was just like, 'Oh no, I'm not doing this again.' And I did it again."
Despite secretly feeling completely out of control, Morissette continued to manage her business operations, oversee her personal finances, and perform live concert dates during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I still showed up. I dipped into psychosis," she admitted. "It was a wild ride."
Background and personal history
Morissette first gained international stardom in 1995 with her multi-platinum album Jagged Little Pill, which earned multiple Grammy Awards and produced iconic tracks including You Oughta Know and Hand in My Pocket.
Prior to her marriage to Treadaway in 2010, the singer was famously engaged to Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds for three years before the pair ended their relationship in 2007.
Her host on the podcast, Alex Cooper, is the creator of Call Her Daddy, one of the world's most popular comedy and interview podcasts, which launched in 2018 and regularly features high-profile celebrity guests discussing health, relationships, and personal journeys.
