Daily Wire hosts clash over postpartum depression claims
Key Takeaways
- •Matt Walsh argued that postpartum depression is linked more to selfishness and life adjustment than to hormones alone.
- •Walsh reiterated his position after drawing backlash, saying there can be deeper reasons behind depression beyond chemical factors.
- •Ben Shapiro responded with a video criticizing comments that framed postpartum depression as a lack of willpower.
- •Shapiro also pushed back on claims that postpartum psychosis does not lead to violent behavior.
Infighting broke out between far-right commentators at The Daily Wire over a key women's health issue, culminating in influencer Ben Shapiro indirectly calling one of his own colleagues a "moron."
The dispute began with postpartum depression, a common and serious mental health condition that can affect women after giving birth and, in the worst cases, lead to self-harm or harm to the child. In public debate, it is often discussed alongside postpartum psychosis, a rarer but more severe condition that can also require urgent attention.
On Monday, Daily Wire host Matt Walsh dismissed the condition in a post to X as a matter of women being selfish.
"A lot of people aren't going to want to hear this but much of the 'depression' that parents (and not just moms) suffer after child birth is due not so much to hormones but to the fact that children, especially babies, are demanding and difficult and require us to subordinate our own needs and desires for their sake," said Walsh. "The more selfish you are, the more of an adjustment it's going to be."
After drawing outrage, Walsh doubled down in a post to Facebook the next day.
"I don't think it helps anyone to completely reduce the mental hardship and frustration of this experience to a matter solely of hormones and brain chemistry, as if there aren't even deeper reasons why a parent might feel depressed as they learn to live in an entirely different way, and are forced, for the first time, to orient their lives around something other than their own needs and desires," he continued. "Of course I would say the same thing about depression in general. There are very often deeper issues than just the chemicals. People tend to get very angry at that suggestion, too, no matter how obviously true (and important) it is."
Shapiro, the outlet's founder, responded on Wednesday in a video refuting Walsh's remarks.
"For any men, and a few women, who are saying that postpartum depression is somehow lack of willpower or that postpartum psychosis doesn't cause people to do violent things, or that postpartum depression is because of the selfishness of modern women or something, please, please, please stop being a moron," said Shapiro.
