The reality star and new mom opened up to ET on Thursday about her struggles with depression and her message for any mom-shamers.
Gretchen Rossi is getting real about motherhood, and if any Twitter haters have a problem with it, she doesn't really care.
The former Real Housewives of Orange County star and her fiancé, Slade Smiley, welcomed their first baby together, daughter Skylar Gray, in July, and soon after the new mom was hit hard with postpartum depression that turned her world upside down.
Recently, she opened up on The Doctors about her struggle with depression following the birth of her baby girl -- and how she overcame it -- and she opened up to ET on Thursday about the outpouring of support she's gotten for being so open with her issues.
"The first month was really, really hard… a lot harder than anticipated. And I certainly was not anticipating the postpartum [depression] that I did have," Rossi told ET's Brice Sander at the Beverly Hills Rejuvenation Center's Eternal Beauty event, benefitting the American Heart Association. "However, thank God, it has completely changed. I started taking my own CBD oil, which turned the whole thing around for me. I feel so much better and I'm loving being a mom now."
She's also getting a lot of love from a supportive community of moms who appreciate that she's being honest and open.
"Everyone just loves to support each other and lift each other up and say, 'Thank you for being vulnerable, and real, and honest about what you're going through," she shared. "That was hard for me [to do], because in the world of Instagram, everything is roses and butterflies and pretty and perfect, and I just decided I didn't want it to be like that. I just wanted it to be real."
While she's gotten a lot of love and support from her fellow parents, Rossi admitted she's still been subject to a lot of mommy-shaming from random Twitter haters and trolls. She felt this wave of criticism when she posted her first photo of Skylar, and even before then.
"I didn't post the photo in enough time for everybody, and I got blasted. And then the second I posted a photo, I got blasted," she shared. "You can't win.... So for me, I'm just doing me. I'm posting when I want to, and how I want to, and if somebody has a problem with that they can suck it."
As for her fiance, Rossi said Smiley has been her rock through all of the new and wild experiences in her life recently, especially as a father.
"He's the best dad ever," she marveled. "Honestly I couldn't have done it without him. He kept me sane, he kept me alive."
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