Alyssa Milano Opens Up About Postpartum Anxiety Amid Lindsay Clancy Trial: "Maternal Mental Health Must Be Treated"

Alyssa Milano is getting vulnerable about one of the hardest moments of her life, and she’s doing it while the whole country watches the Lindsay Clancy murder trial. Milano shared her 2011 postpartum anxiety story on her Substack this week, writing about the severe panic attack she had the first night home with her son Milo. It got so bad that she ended up hospitalized in a public psychiatric ward for three days. Her husband David was scared, her baby was healthy, but her mind was spinning out of control. She’s hoping her story helps other moms feel less alone.

Milano is careful to say her experience is not the same as Clancy’s. Clancy is on trial for the deaths of her three children, and her defense team cites postpartum psychosis and bipolar disorder. Milano points out that postpartum anxiety and postpartum psychosis are different conditions, but they both expose the same truth: maternal mental health is often ignored until it’s too late. She’s calling on lawmakers to pass policies that open access to mental health services rather than restrict them. Her message is clear: symptoms need to be recognized, believed, and treated with urgency.

This story hits close to home for a lot of families. Whether you’ve dealt with postpartum struggles yourself or watched someone you love go through it, the takeaway is the same. Help exists, but only if we’re willing to ask for it and talk about it. Have you or someone you know dealt with postpartum anxiety or depression? What helped you get through it? Share your story in the comments.