Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal/Getty;whitneycummings/Instagram Whitney Cummings is opening up about her struggle with postpartum depression after welcoming her son Henry in 2023 During an appearance onToday With Jenna & Friends,Cummings said she's recovering from her depression as time goes on "I feel like I am out of the woods in the postpartum depression thing," she said Whitney Cummingsis opening up about her struggle with postpartum depression — but the comedian jokes that her mental health gave her some creative inspiration for her ongoing tour. During an appearance onToday With Jenna & Friends,Cummings, 43, candidly joked about her experience with postpartum depression after welcoming her son Henry back in December 2023, sharing that her struggles even inspired the name of her ongoing Big Baby tour. "I named this tour in mom-brain postpartum depression, and I recall nothing why I made the decision," she said to laughs from host Jenna Bush Hager. "I was in a catatonic stupor and it made me laugh," she continued. "No matter how big the baby is, it's huge. I was like, 'I am a big baby. Why can't I walk anymore?'" According to the stand-up, she's feeling happy and content, nearly two years after welcoming her first child. "I am excited to be here now because I feel like I am out of the woods in the postpartum depression thing," she added. "Before you have a kid, you are like, 'Really? Like, is it supposed to be the happiest time of your life? Why are you depressed? Pick a lane,'" Cummings said of themental health conditionexperienced by many new mothers. "When you Google it or go to doctors, they literally say, 'We don't know the cause of postpartum depression.'" "I am not a doctor," she continued. "I have a couple of ideas what could have caused it. Could it be the fact you are going bald? Your hairline moves back two inches, your gums start bleeding when you brush your teeth? My ankles fully look like a map of the New York subway." Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The stand-up comedian has previously been candid about her experience with postpartum depression. In an interview onThe Drew Barrymore Showin January, Cummings shared that she was in "deep throes ofpostpartum depression" when she was offered to appear on the revival game showHollywood SquaresalongsideBarrymore. However, after finding out Barrymore was involved with the show, Cummings decided to go through with the episode, which she said "snapped me out of it" and "really helped me a lot." "I needed to see other moms, like working and having fun, and that was a big healing moment for me," Cummings shared at the time. "I think I was just putting so much pressure on myself and that really helped me just like release it." whitneycummings/Instagram "I realized how much I defined myself through my ability to make people laugh or be smart or say the thing in the moment or remember the thing the fastest, and my brain was not working," Cummings admitted. "I was so scared.""I knew that even if I did suck, we'd make it funny and we'd figure it out," she said. "Then, I was safe enough to be able to just feel like, 'You can do this, and if you can't do this, that's also fine." Cummings has also been open about welcoming her baby naturally at 40. Appearing onCBS Morningsin March, she joked that one of her favorite parts of the pregnancy was constantly being told it was a "geriatric pregnancy." The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now! "My favorite part so far has definitely been getting pregnant at 40 and being told it's a geriatric pregnancy," Cummings joked on the show. "They start calling it geriatric at 35. I had a 75-year-old man, Smithers, told me that I was geriatric." "Dr. Smithers, we call him now. We award women having kids later in life when they're sane and have their lives together. I'm very grateful that I did this at 40 years old," she said, before cracking a joke: "If I had a kid even a year sooner, I would have sold it for Taylor Swift tickets." If you or someone you know needs mental health help, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor. Read the original article onPeople
