Alyssa Milano details her stay in a psychiatric ward as she speaks out on postpartum struggles amid Lindsay Clancy trial
Alyssa Milano is revisiting her ‘debilitating’ postpartum anxiety attacks, which led to a psychiatric ward stay amid the high-profile Lindsay Clancy trial.
Clancy is accused of murdering her three children Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan at her home in Massachusetts in 2023.
Clancy has admitted to killing her children, but her defense team have argued she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and did not know the consequences of her actions.
Milano, 53, who shares two children with husband David Bugliari, took to her Substack this week to repost an essay she penned for TIME Magazine back in 2018.
Re-sharing the essay, the Charmed star wrote: ‘As the Lindsay Clancy trial forces a new national reckoning with postpartum mental illness and with what can happen when women ask for help but still fall through the cracks, it feels important to share it again.’
She also noted that: ‘Postpartum anxiety and postpartum psychosis are different conditions, and my experience is not Lindsay Clancy’s.’
Alyssa Milano, 53, recalled suffering from ‘debilitating’ postpartum anxiety attacks which led to a psychiatric ward stay after welcoming her first child. Above, in Hollywood in 2023
The actress, who shares two children with husband David Bugliari, took to her Substack this week to repost an essay she penned for TIME Magazine back in 2018
The Charmed star explained: ‘As the Lindsay Clancy trial forces a new national reckoning with postpartum mental illness and with what can happen when women ask for help but still fall through the cracks, it feels important to share it again.’ Above, Clancy in court on August 20
She went on: ‘But the trial has brought renewed attention to a truth that connects them: maternal mental-health symptoms must be recognized, believed and treated with urgency.’
In the 2018 essay, Milano shared that her postpartum depression had most likely been triggered by Generalized Anxiety Disorder.
She became pregnant with her first child Milo, now 14, back in 2011. It came two years after the actress suffered a miscarriage.
The star welcomed her son via C-section and remembered the difficult first night home from the hospital when she ‘suffered my first anxiety attack.’
She explained that she ‘felt like I had already disappointed my child’ and had ‘failed as a mother’ due to having Milo via C-section and not producing milk at the time.
‘My heart raced. My stomach seized up. I felt like I was dying, she shared.’
When Milano began working again, she admitted to being ‘overwhelmed by guilt for leaving my son.’
‘And like many others who suffer from anxiety, my pain was not taken seriously,’ she continued.
While heading to work, Milano would ‘think about all the ways that Milo could die in the hands of his caretakers.’
Clancy, who is a former labor and delivery nurse, has admitted to killing her three children but pleaded not guilty to murder by reason of insanity, citing postpartum psychosis
In her essay, Milano The star recalled the difficult first night home from the hospital after delivering her son Milo via C-section and how she had her first anxiety attack.’ Above, Milano with son Milo and husband Bugliari in 2018
‘Postpartum anxiety and postpartum psychosis are different conditions, and my experience is not Lindsay Clancy’s, she wrote alongside her re-post. ‘The trial has brought renewed attention to a truth that connects them: maternal mental-health symptoms must be recognized, believed and treated with urgency.’ Above, in 2021
‘Every night, after working 16-hour days, after I was finally able to hold my child and put him to sleep, my day’s anxiety would culminate into a debilitating anxiety attack,’ she wrote in the 2018 essay.
One night, Milano ‘went to the emergency room at 2:00 AM, asked for a psychiatrist and got help. I felt as though I had no choice: I asked to be committed; I stayed in a public psychiatric ward for three days.’
She said that the journey of her pain being understood and recognized was ‘not easy.’
Milano was then introduced to her psychiatrist and therapist, whom she called ‘angels.’
When it comes to mental illness, the actress penned that solutions and answers are sometimes not immediately clear.
‘I was lucky enough to have the means and the insurance to get the help and support I needed. What happens to those mothers who don’t have the kind of support I received?’ she wondered.
The Daily Mail has reached out to a rep for Milano for comment, but has yet to hear back.
Female supporters of Clancy stood outside of the courthouse in Plymouth, Massachusetts this week wearing shades of pink
After the death of her children, Clancy allegedly attempted to kill herself, which has left her paralyzed and in a wheelchair for life.
The former labor and delivery nurse has pleaded not guilty to the murder of her children by reason of insanity and is seeking to be committed to a state mental health facility instead of prison.
However, prosecutors claim Clancy planned the 2023 killings and contrived to get her husband Patrick out of the house so she could carry them out.
Female supporters of Clancy stood outside of the courthouse in Plymouth, Massachusetts, this week wearing shades of pink.
‘The healthcare failed her, and that’s just tragic. We’re both mothers and both experienced postpartum anxiety and depression,’ one supporter told the Daily Mail.
‘It’s scary to speak out. You don’t want to get judged and you don’t want somebody to take your child.’
Closing arguments in the Clancy trial are expected to begin on Monday.
If you or someone you know needs help, please call or text the confidential 24/7 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the US on 988. There is also an online chat available at 988lifeline.org.
