AFL star reveals post-partum depression battle

AFL premiership winner Zach Tuohy has talked about the personal battle he faced as a new father, sharing his story on I’m A Celeb.

AFL star Zach Tuohy has shared how he suffered postnatal depression following the birth of his first child.

The retired Geelong Cats premiership winner was 24 when he became a father to son Flynn.

“It was no good for a bit. The first 12 months was hard,” Tuohy said in the jungle camp on I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!

“You think you are the only one fumbling, no family around didn’t help either.”

Zach Tuohy speaking on I’m a Celebrity about post-partum depression. Picture: Supplied

Tuohy, 35, and partner, Rebecca, are also parents to Rafferty.

At his darkest, Tuohy would sit in his car crying. Not even his wife knew what he was going through.

“I used to drive to training and then I’d pull in on the way back and just like cry in the car and get it all out and then go in and I’d be really short with her (Rebecca),” he explained in the deep and meaningful chat with fellow I’m A Celebrity contestant, retired NRL player Sam Thaiday.

“I feel bad about it, I feel awful about it now. Like, she’s also going through a lot of stuff at that point, it is not like I was the only one in it, in fact she was probably going through more so you carry a lot of guilt.”

Tuohy released his memoir – The Irish Experiment – at the end of last year.

Retired AFL star Zach Tuohy with his family. Picture: Instagram.

He was born and raised in Ireland before moving to Australia and becoming one of the top names in AFL.

“It has been suggested to me a few times that I might have had post-partum (depression) because apparently blokes can get it,” Tuohy said.

“Who knew? I just thought I had good old-fashioned depression. But yeah, I just brute-forced my way through it. I think I have a bit of a mindset that like, really good for football, just terrible for the real world, which is ‘shut up and get on with it’. That was kind of my approach to everything but that was great when you are sore and you need to train, I don’t think it is super healthy in the real world when you are struggling like that.”

Zach Tuohy was born and raised in Ireland. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

He continued: “So I was doing the same, I’d be crying in the car, and just wait until that feeling left and just be like, ‘you’re fine, get over it’. It was only when I wrote about it and spoke to people about it that they were like, ‘have you ever thought you had post-partum depression’? And I was like, ‘that is a chick thing I think’. It turns out it is not.”

Meanwhile, there are 14 contestants vying for the $100,000 prize money for their individual chosen charities.

Others are Reggie Bird, Sigrid Thornton, Samantha Moitzi, Shayna Jack, Nicky Buckley, Tina Provis, Max Baledge, Matty Johnson, Dave Hughes and Harrison Reid.