Actor and Artist Lea Michele Talks Pregnancy, PCOS and Parenthood On The MomForce Podcast
“It’s important to talk about my experience because so many women deal with PCOS or have traumatic pregnancies like I did.”
Actor and artist Lea Michele made her first appearance on Broadway before she had even completed elementary school. From there, she starred in countless musicals (remember her incredible run in Broadway’s Spring Awakening?!) and landed her most well-known role as Rachel Berry on the hit show Glee (six years of her musical talents wasn’t long enough).
This past year, Lea’s life changed completely when she gave birth to her baby boy, Ever. Her road to motherhood has been filled with major challenges and important lessons. That’s why she stopped by The MomForce Podcast to talk with host and Chatbooks co-founder Vanessa Quigley about her journey to parenthood. During her interview, Lea opens up about her experience with PCOS and infertility, and how music got her through her hardest days.
I found that it's important for me to talk about my experience because so many women deal with the struggles of PCOS or have traumatic pregnancies like I did. After my third surgery, my doctor said, “Your body has been through a lot, let’s take a break.” Right after that I got pregnant, which was such an unexpected blessing.
It was sort of a pregnancy that had all of the things that you really don't want to have to go through and deal with. I don't think it was until I was about eight months pregnant that we got all of our results back that said everything was okay. And the next thing you know, he was here.
When I was pregnant, it was really through singing that I was able to feel like I was making a connection with my son to let him know that everything was okay, despite a lot of chaos and trauma around us.
I struggled a lot with postpartum anxiety, which not a lot of moms talk about, but it is a real thing. And it doesn't just go away after 12 months. If you’ve ever struggled with anxiety before like I did, it's completely intensified now that you’re a mom. I've gotten into meditation and taking the first 10 minutes of my day before I go into his room to center myself to help with my anxiety, and to put me into a good place for the day. And that's just been really important for me.
I was so nervous to start working again! I called one of my girlfriends crying and she said to me, “It's so important for him to see his mama going to do what she loves and that you are working and that you have a career that you love and that you love to sing because he needs to see that.” My new album is called Forever, which is dedicated to my son.
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