This year’s Australian contestant, Kate Miller-Heidke, based her song Zero Gravity on the postnatal depression she experienced after giving birth to son Ernie.
When singer Kate Miller-Heidke gave birth to her son Ernie in 2016, she says she “lost her voice”.
Although Kate went on to give a sparkling performance of song Zero Gravity at this year’s Eurovision song contest, she felt very differently just three years ago.
“For 18 months, I lost my voice – literally and figuratively,” she told the BBC. “I was incredibly tired. I didn’t feel like myself.”
Like so many women, the aftermath of childbirth left my world shaken.
In a Facebook post, she writes: “Zero Gravity is about emerging from depression into balance again. It tries to capture the sensation of colour returning to your life, of feeling strong, joyful and relieved.
“Like so many women, the aftermath of childbirth left my world shaken. The birth of my son Ernie, was lengthy and traumatic…
“There was a period afterwards when I couldn’t remember who I was – my old self seemed so ill-equipped to handle the overwhelming task of protecting and nurturing this helpless, little creature.
“I was also grieving for the loss of my old identity, and this came with a powerful layer of guilt for my own selfishness.”
The breakthrough, she writes, came after Ernie’s second birthday.
“After Ernie turned two, I woke up one day and felt somehow…better. The fog had lifted. Stronger. I had the energy to see friends. It was a feeling of transcendence. I felt like I had been given a golden ticket.”
She told the BBC that the support she received from her husband, Keir Nuttall, and her lyric-writing work, helped aid her recovery. “I have an amazing partner and family,” she says. “I really feel for those women who don’t have that – it must be really tough.”
Kate adds that she hopes the song will “make people feel less alone, especially with an experience as lonely as depression.”
Read the answers to the most common questions about PND and find out how you can get help here.
