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In a recent interview, Real Housewives of Potomac star Ashley Darby revealed that she almost quit the show before Season 5 began filming.
Darby told Hollywood Life in an August 17 interview that she was thinking about quitting the show due to her difficult battle with postpartum depression. “There’s no way that I could let a camera crew into my house,” Darby said to Hollywood Life. “I was feeling so anti. It took a little bit of convincing for me to get back on the train, but now I’m on full swing, choo choo, but I almost wasn’t.”
Darby explained that her friends and family helped push her to continue appearing on the show. “It was a lot of people. I didn’t realize how much support I had and how strong my tribe was until I expressed what I was going through and yes, all of the ladies reached out to me almost and my husband was supportive, my mom, my friends,” Darby said to Hollywood Life. “I actually get emotional thinking about it because those people care about me more than I even knew and it spoke volumes. When I couldn’t give anything in return, they were all giving to me and that meant so much to me.”
Darby and her husband, Michael Darby, welcomed their son Dean in July 2019.
Darby Said Her Postpartum Depression Was ‘Crippling’
After Darby gave birth, she suffered from intense postpartum depression, which we see this season on The Real Housewives of Potomac. Darby revealed in a June 2020 interview with Bravo’s The Daily Dish that her postpartum depression was “crippling.”
“I’ve dealt with quite a bit of postpartum depression after Dean was born, and I had a hard time seeing that it was going to be better in terms of feeling more comfortable with Dean being around people and not worrying that everyone or someone was gonna hurt my child,” Darby said to The Daily Dish. “It was the most crippling fear for me.”
Darby also revealed that she ended up seeking out professional help for her postpartum depression, explaining that it was her pediatrician who helped her recognize the signs. “And actually my pediatrician recognized it first by giving me this questionnaire and I answered the questions and they were even eye-opening for myself to know that I wasn’t, things were not as right with me. So, I went and saw a postpartum therapist. She helped me.” Darby said.
Darby Is Not Nervous To Share Her Experience With Viewers
Even though Darby went through a difficult time with her postpartum depression, she told Hollywood Life that she is not nervous to relive those moments during the airing of Season 5. “I’m not nervous to relive it because I’ve made a lot of progress with it,” Darby said to Hollywood Life. “I’m not going to lie, quarantine, while the circumstances are not great, the fact that I get to be with my son every day all day and I get to do interviews virtually and everything, it really is a silver lining for me, but it was real.”
In a recent episode of The Real Housewives of Potomac, the women throw a dinner for Darby to encourage her to get out of the house. The women were happy that Darby was finally joining them for dinner, saying that they hadn’t seen her for a while. It seems as if viewers will definitely learn more about Darby’s postpartum depression during this season of The Real Housewives of Potomac, which airs Sundays at 9/8c.
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