Eastenders star Toby-Alexander Smith has opened up about his struggle with postnatal depression after welcoming his second child with wife Amy Walsh. Smith and Walsh welcomed their second daughter, Nell, in March of this year.
Speaking to MailOnline, Smith shared that he experienced postnatal depression following Nell's birth after learning about the symptoms through an Emmerdale storyline involving his wife, who played Tracy Metcalfe.
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Smith said: "My wife Amy had actually done a postnatal depression storyline on Emmerdale when she was pregnant, and so I sort of knew all the signs to look out for in her.
"And I was watching her like a hawk, only to realise that some of those same symptoms were showing up in myself."
Describing his symptoms, Smith continued: "The highs and the lows were a lot, you know. And that feeling of helplessness and guess a feeling of failure at times.
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"Just that overwhelm, the sheer overwhelm of not being able to cope, it really does creep up on you."
Smith went on to say that he and Walsh were able to support each other and it helped that they were both good communicators and had caught his symptoms early.
The actor added: "It was only really when I sort of delved into the research of mental health, you see that there is a community of men out there who are going through the same thing.
"There isn't any kind of reference point for dads. It's a growing community and more and more conversations are starting to happen now, which I think is amazing and, you know, so important."
Smith used his experience to write short film Finding Calm, in which he starred with Walsh, about a first-time father who becomes overwhelmed after feeling a disconnect from his newborn son.
Meanwhile, Smith is gearing up to return to Eastenders as villain Gray Atkins. The serial killer is set to return for a cameo on the soap soon, following the appearance last week of his grandmother Sheila.
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Speaking about how Gray may be different this time around thanks to his time in prison, Smith told The Mirror: "Gray was a brilliant character.
"It was a gift to play Gray and it'll be fascinating to know what four years in prison would do for someone like him.
"His identity was very much, you know, control and power and very manipulative. Being in prison would very much strip a lot of that identity. So it was fascinating to tap into that psychology."
EastEnders airs on Mondays-Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One. The show also streams on BBC iPlayer, where most episodes drop early at 6am ahead of their TV broadcast.
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