Teyana Taylor used her role in ‘A Thousand and One’ for therapy

The actress, who recently opened up about battling postpartum depression while filming the drama, is far from alone.

A.V. Rockwell’s buzzy, Sundance grand jury prize-winning drama “A Thousand and One” starring Teyana Taylor may be just a feature film, but the emotional turmoil that Taylor’s character experiences is real. 

In the drama, the actress plays paroled hairdresser Inez, who kidnaps her son Terry from foster care in order to start fresh in gentrifying New York City.

The actor who plays Terry changes as the character ages, but Taylor plays Inez throughout the film, appearing in nearly every scene and delivering what has been described as essentially an Oscar-worthy performance.

The actress, who said in a recent interview with Yahoo that playing Inez was “definitely emotional,” opened up about how she was battling postpartum depression while filming. “I was dealing with literal postpartum depression,” said Taylor, in real life a mom of two daughters with husband Iman Shumpert. “And in the midst of dealing with postpartum depression, I lost a lot of my childhood friends. [I was] back home to film and then come to find out that a lot of [my] childhood has been erased. That was a lot, emotionally.”  

She noted that the experiences were “therapeutic” for her. “I was able to cry out loud for once. I think I hadn’t been able to do that because when you’re a super mom, that’s all your kids see you as,” she explained. “You’re a superhero all day, every day. So going to the set every day, I was able to put my cape to the side, have my therapy session, and just cry out loud.”

She added, “I think that’s what made it so real and authentic because every single emotion was real. Every single tear was real. Every single scream was real. Every single emotion was real.”

Taylor is far from alone. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly one in eight women can develop postpartum depression.

On a recent episode of the latest season of “Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip,” reality TV star Porsha Williams opened up about how she pushed through postpartum depression in order to film a previous season of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.”

Williams said shortly after the birth of her daughter Pilar, she began filming season 11 of “RHOA.” At that time, she was dealing with becoming a new mom, a split from Pilar’s father and battling postpartum depression along with suicidal ideation. A producer, ironically enough, named Joy, approached Williams and empowered her to embrace her emotions.

“She was like, ‘It’s OK. You don’t have to say a word. You don’t have to do anything. We’re just going to be here for you to tell your story because I know you’re going to come out of it’,” Williams recalled. “It’s always like what my mother always said, ‘Fake it til you make it, baby girl.’ And I pushed through.”

With Black Maternal Health Week beginning April 11, we’re here for women who share their stories and who get real about Black women’s mental and maternal health. 

TheGrio Lifestyle reporter Kay Wicker contributed to this article.

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