Kalki Koechlin 'Asked For Help' A Week After Postpartum Depression Hit Her: 'Couldn't Cope'

Kalki Koechlin has been vocal about her struggles with postpartum depression and the advantages of water birthing in conversations surrounding motherhood. She welcomed her daughter Sappho on February 7, 2020 after a 17-hour water birthing process.

Kalki had to combat several battles at once in the early stages of her motherhood. It was the initial stages of the Covid lockdown that significantly contributed to all the other challenges she was facing as well as postpartum depression-from exhaustion to sleep deprivation and even iron deficiency.

In an exclusive conversation with NDTV, the actress opened up about her journey with postpartum depression, and even said that she was "lucky" that she had some idea about it when it hit her.

What She Said

Kalki Koechlin says, "With postpartum, I was lucky that I had some idea about it. And so when it started hitting me, after about a week of it, I told my partner, I need to see a doctor. I need to ask for help because I can't cope with this. And we did. We spoke to a few professionals and we got the kind of help that we needed to kind of get things in a certain routine."

Speaking of why it is important to make people more aware of conditions like postpartum depression and options like water birthing, Kalki Koechlin reiterates how "people don't realise how bad it is until it happens to them."

She continues, "We have a long way to go because people don't really realise how bad it is until it happens to them. And then they're like, oh my God, nobody told me this happens, that happens, this happens, right? And then you tap into the mother network and you say, what do I do?"

"If you have a mother's network and if you don't, then it's very isolating also. So it's very important to talk about it. It's not to say that we don't love being mothers. I love being a mother, but there are definitely very challenging aspects, especially in the early stages, which we need to be aware of, which our doctors need to be informing us about so that when it hits, we can be like, I need help."

On How Postpartum Depression Can Make Mothers Feel

Kalki Koechlin further elaborates that the helplessness that comes with the feelings of postpartum depression often makes mothers believe that they are not doing their jobs properly, unfortunately.

She shares, "Most people think, I'm not a good mother if I don't cope with this. I need to cope with this quietly to be a good mother. There's so much pressure to be a good mother, but it's okay to be like, I can't handle this child. I can't hold this child any longer. Hand it over, get help, get, you know, whatever you need to get yourself better. Usually it's just sleep. It's usually just literally the first three, four months, all you need is sleep."

Kalki Koechlin's daughter Sappho is now 6 years old. She says that though initially it was a struggle for her to understand where her mother was when she had to go to work, things are better now.

"Now she knows," says Kalki Koechlin with a reassuring smile.

Kalki Koechlin's debut film Dev D is all set to re-release in theatres on April 24, 2026. It has been 17 years of her in the film industry with some incredible work in her filmography.

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