Brooke Shields: Tom Cruise Incident Brought Awareness to Postpartum Depression

Brooke Shields received The Hope Award for Depression Advocacy on Monday at the Hope for Depression Research Foundation's 2009 Hope Seminar and Luncheon in NYC, and spoke to OK! about how her controversy with Tom Cruise over postpartum depression actually helped bring the issue to light.

Brooke became somewhat of a spokesperson about postpartum depression almost by accident, but she definitely believes her incident with Tom worked out for the best.

"In the end, it gave people a platform on which to stand and fight for something that I'm glad people are feeling the freedom to fight for," she tells OK!. "I think when anybody comes out with something that is considered shameful or when you see somebody that you think has it all in their life and all of a sudden they fall so far, I think that that always garners a lot of attention."

"Nobody wanted to talk about postpartum," Brooke added. "You hide it away, its horrible, you should be ashamed and its terrible. You don't talk about it and then we see what happens when its undiagnosed and unaddressed. So, the controversy just sort of help bring it to light."

Brooke is a Depression Advocate for a reason and it is not only for postpartum depression.

"It's just one of a myriad of different emotional disorders and illnesses," she told OK!, giving her all the more reason to fight harder for her cause.

Reporting By Oliver Coleman