‘I felt really anti-everybody’: Ali Bastian, 38, reveals she sought help when she couldn’t let her own mum hold her newborn baby and admits ‘we were going down a difficult road’
Hollyoaks star Ali Bastian gave birth to her first baby, a daughter called Isla in March.
The actress, 38, who is married to fellow actor David O’Mahony, revealed she ‘felt really anti-everybody’ as a new mum and sought help when she struggled to let anyone, including her own mum, hold her baby.
Speaking to Zoe Hardman and Georgia Dayton on the Made By Mammas podcast, she said about being a new mum: ‘I definitely feel less like this but at the time I was literally like “stay away from me!” I felt really anti-everybody, it’s not good.
‘I felt really anti-everybody’: Hollyoaks star Ali Bastian revealed she sought help when she couldn’t even let her own mum hold her baby and admits ‘we were going down a difficult road’
‘And I think my little brother got a bit worried because I said to him “I genuinely can’t imagine that I’m going to ever let anybody else hold Isla or pass her to anybody” and he was like “uh oh, sound the alarm”!
‘And he kind of gave me that loving push in the right direction to actually see my mum properly, and let mum hold her and get some help. We were going down a difficult road.’
Talking about Isla’s arrival, she said: ‘When I had Isla it was literally about four days before the lockdown or something, and we didn’t know we were going into lockdown because it was quite sudden wasn’t it when it actually happened.
Family support: The actress, 38, who is married to fellow actor David O’Mahony, (pictured) said her brother gave her a loving push in the right direction to get some help
‘We had a real sense of it when we were in the hospital that it was all getting really serious.’
Advised by the midwife to stay home with her partner and new arrival during the pandemic, Ali said, ‘I didn’t leave the house for three months!’
Ali discussed what it was like having David, who works in the West End, home with her for longer than expected.
She said: ‘He didn’t go back to work, it got to the end of that paternity leave, ridiculous two weeks that they get and then we’ve just been in our own little bubble.
‘And in some ways it’s been incredible because he and Isla are so bonded. Whereas he would work eight shows a week normally he would have missed every single bath time and bedtime, but he’s here for everything.’
As an actress, Ali was asked by the hosts about working during her pregnancy, especially in her industry.
She said: ‘What happened with me I think, was at the beginning of my pregnancy when I was saying work suddenly really slowed down and I did my last filming job when I was 10 weeks pregnant.
‘And part of me was like “oh, this is so c**p. Now I understand why I played pregnant so many times because they’re not hiring the pregnant women to do it”.’
Made By Mammas: The Podcast is a Create Podcasts production.
She said: ‘At the beginning of my pregnancy when I was saying work suddenly really slowed down and I did my last filming job when I was 10 weeks pregnant.. Now I understand why I played pregnant so many times because they’re not hiring the pregnant women to do it”‘