Rachel Platten opens up about the 'mental roller coaster' of postpartum anxiety

Rachel Platten recently became a mom for the second time, and now the "Fight Song" singer is opening up about her renewed battle with postpartum anxiety.

"I did not want to write this post...But here it is, i have postpartum anxiety again," Platten, 40, wrote in an emotional Instagram post. "I thought, I'll share about it when I'm 'better.' I'll have a really powerful story about how I overcame it. And everyone will think oh she's so strong bla bla."

"But f--- that," she continued. "I don't want one other single mother out there to experience the same feelings of shame, loneliness, and fear that I did if maybe reading about my story NOW can help you. Because this can be hell if you think you're alone."

Platten described what she's going through as a "daily mental rollercoaster," noting that we "do not talk enough about the reality" mothers experience in the postpartum period.

"A wave of irrational worry or fear or depression comes and it can knock me over if I don't use all of my tools: compassion for myself is the biggest," she explained, also listing off other things that helped her, including "tremendous support and vulnerability and courage to ride these waves."

Platten added that she's trying to remember that she's not just what she calls "this runaway train of a brain" -- she's "a beautiful soul ... who is courageously getting herself the support she needs."

The singer concluded her post by saying, "[I'm] sorry I've hid this from everyone. I didn't want to suffer in public, not again. But I know sometimes this community is exactly the thing I need to remember how loved and supported I am, how much we all are."

Platten and husband Kevin Lazan, whom she married in 2010, welcomed daughter Violet Skye in January 2019 and daughter Sophie Jo this September.