Ivanka Trump has opened up about her experience with postpartum depression

'It was a very challenging, emotional time for me because I felt like I was not living up to my potential as a parent.'

Words by Jadie Troy-Pryde

Donald isn't the only Trump in the White House that continuously manages to grab headlines; the president's eldest daughter, Ivanka, has managed to firmly assert herself into the public eye since she officially became a member of the First family. While she has been lambasted for blocking Obama's gender pay gap policy, there are also many women shelling out thousands of dollars on plastic surgery to look like the 35-year-old Assistant to the President.

But the former Gossip Girl star has decided to use her platform to talk about her own personal experiences with postpartum depression. Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, have three children: Arabella, 6, Joseph, 3 and Theodore, 1. During an interview with US talk show host and health expert Dr Oz, she revealed that she had experienced 'some level of postpartum depression'.

When asked why she has decided to talk about it now, Ivanka continued: 'Well, I didn't know that I was [ready]! But you asked me a question and it's incredibly important. Look, I consider myself a very hard-charging person. I am ambitious, I'm passionate, I'm driven. But this is something that affects parents all over the country.'

Postpartum or postnatal depression affects one in seven young mothers, and many celebrities from Sarah Michelle Gellar to Adele have spoken out about their experiences in recent years with the hope of shining light on the topic that has remained largely taboo in mainstream media.

The interview, which is set to air on Thursday, continues with Ivanka saying: 'I had such easy pregnancies that in some ways the juxtaposition hit me even harder. It was a very challenging, emotional time for me because I felt like I was not living up to my potential as a parent.'

Model Chrissy Teigen has also spoken about her own experience in detail, writing in an open essay earlier this year: 'I also just didn’t think it could happen to me. I have a great life. I have all the help I could need: John, my mother (who lives with us), a nanny. But postpartum does not discriminate. I couldn’t control it. And that’s part of the reason it took me so long to speak up: I felt selfish, icky, and weird saying aloud that I’m struggling. Sometimes I still do.'