Olivia Munn struggled with postpartum anxiety while filming Tales of the Walking Dead

Olivia Munn struggled with postpartum anxiety while filming Tales of the Walking Dead

Olivia Munn has opened up about her pregnancy and postpartum experiences with her followers on social media. She recently shared a clip of herself performing some pretty physical martial arts moves on the set of Tales of the Walking Dead (a spin-off of The Walking Dead series). The actress looks pretty badass in the video, where she fights zombies with round kicks and dodges their advances with quick defensive moves, but her caption shows how she really felt at the time. (See: What to Know About Supporting Your Mental Health Before and During Pregnancy)

"I just had my baby and wasn't ready to go back to filming. Then Scott Gimple asked if I wanted to come and kill some walkers... I was in pain for a week but it was worth it," she wrote in the caption of her post. "(Also THANK YOU SO MUCH to the entire cast and crew for making this such a beautiful experience for me. I had really bad postpartum anxiety and since I was only four months postpartum I doubted myself a lot, but the producers, crew, my capoeira teachers and stunt trainers were beyond wonderful. Thank you ❤️)," she added.

Postpartum anxiety is a form of severe anxiety, including all-consuming worry and irrational fears that you or your baby are in danger, which occurs in about 11 to 21 percent of new mothers after giving birth, according to the Cleveland Clinic. It can be caused by changing hormones, lack of sleep, and feelings of responsibility for a newborn.

This type of anxiety can occur along with postpartum depression, and although the two conditions are different, many signs and symptoms overlap, including difficulty sleeping, heart palpitations, and feelings of anxiety, notes the Cleveland Clinic. However, the main difference is that postpartum anxiety causes feelings of worry, while postpartum depression causes feelings of sadness. It's common for people with postpartum depression to experience symptoms of postpartum anxiety, but not everyone with anxiety also deals with depression, the organization adds.

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This isn't the first time Munn has shared her experiences with some of the negative, less discussed aspects of pregnancy and the postpartum period. Back in 2021, she spoke about struggling with her body image while pregnant. "'Oh, if I don't do well with the pregnancy, if I don't look chic and cool and effortless and if my body changes like that, that means I'm failing,'" she said in an interview at the time.

After giving birth to her son Malcolm, Munn revealed the pressure she felt to return to her pre-pregnancy body. "My body didn't snap back but it made this little guy so much that I just love him 💙," she wrote in the caption of an Instagram post in June 2022. "It's worth it."

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With that in mind, it's impressive that Munn was able to return to filming for a physically demanding role just a few months after giving birth. Even more remarkable, however, is her ability to share her experiences with her large fan base. Hopefully this will show other new mothers and mothers-to-be that they are not alone during the emotional ups and downs of pregnancy and postpartum.