Alanis Morissette: Post-Partum Depression Was a "Really Intense Time"

USMagazine, Tuesday, August 28, 2012, 1:15pm (PDT)

After taking time off to marry rapper Mario "MC Souleye" Treadway and start her own family, Alanis Morissette is releasing her first album in four years, Havoc and Bright Lights. But during her time away from the spotlight, the "You Oughta Know" singer faced a new, unexpected challenge: post-partum depression.

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"I didn't feel the need the share. It just was part of the autobiographical transparency value that I have," Morissette, 38, told Good Morning America on Tuesday about why she decided to open up about her battle with "baby blues" after the Dec. 25, 2010 birth of son Ever. "I really think transparency really levels the playing field for all of us and renders our humanness. It was just a really intense time, and if I could share anything with anyone who's going through it, it would be to encourage them to seek help and reach out a little earlier than I did." 

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And Morissette, who wed Treadway, 32, in a private ceremony at their Los Angeles home in May 2010, stressed that women should not feel guilty about asking for help.

"The feminist movement went through being very dependent, being autonomous, being individualistic and being empowered on our own, burning your bras and such. And then now, in 2012, there's this gorgeous inner-dependence," she explained, "and saying 'I'm really empowered and I need you and I need help.' It's really great." 

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But the new mom, who firmly believes in attachment parenting and has said she'll breastfeed until he decides it is time to stop, says there has been a "lot of healing" happening in her family.

"There's this intimacy that comes from commitment, and there's this healing that is to be gotten from that. So with my son and my husband and my marriage, there's a lot of healing that's going on," Morissette told GMA. "Songwriting is really cathartic and it moves all this energy, [but] it didn't necessarily heal anything."

Havoc and Bright Lights, Morissette's eighth studio album, is in stores now.

This article originally appeared on Usmagazine.com: Alanis Morissette: Post-Partum Depression Was a "Really Intense Time"