Ashley Tisdale 'Tried to Divorce' Her Husband Repeatedly After Welcoming First Baby: 'That Was the Hardest Part'

Ashley Tisdale admitted she "tried to divorce" her husband several times while experiencing postpartum depression after welcoming her eldest daughter, Jupiter Iris, 5, in 2021.

The High School Musical alum vulnerably opened up about her mental health on her husband Christopher French's new podcast, "Recovering."

The Frenshe founder discussed her most difficult mental health challenge to date during the conversation with her husband.

"As you know, I went through postpartum depression with Jupiter, and that would be like the most challenging [situation] for me, because what was so hard — I was so proud of myself for dealing with the anxiety stuff, and being like, 'OK, now I'm ready to have a child because I feel like I'm equipped emotionally to be able to do that,'" she said.

"But then I got hit with postpartum depression, which is really hormonal, and you, like, all of the tools that I had learned and knew to use, like you can't use. The hormonal stuff is the hardest part; because it is like, you're trying your hardest. I'm like, 'I know what to do and why am I still feeling this way?' And it was just very intense, like I remember being in the car and almost having a panic attack just being in traffic. ... And then nobody was diagnosing me with it, too, and that was the hardest part."

In the end, she was only diagnosed with postpartum depression, rather than PMDD, when she suddenly felt better after Jupiter turned two.

One of the consequences of Tisdale's mental health challenges was their impact on her marriage.

"Obviously you dealt with a lot of that, and we had difficulty enduring that first year," she told French.

"I tried to divorce you so many times, but you're so grounded and calm and knew to just let it blow over. But yeah, that was the hardest part was just the hormones," the actress replied.

As an afterthought, the star added of her second pregnancy, "It's pretty cool, though, doing it again and not having that experience."

Fortunately, French was understanding and there for his wife.

"Viewing it from the outside is crazy," he said.

"It was so hard to watch you going through something that you couldn't control — not that you couldn't control, because we can't really ever control our emotions, but when it's hormonal specifically, and you mentioned that, I do think there's a huge difference. ... There's almost no way to work with that. It's almost beyond your grasp."

Tisdale and French have been together since 2012 and tied the knot in 2014, per a publication.

Jupiter arrived in 2021, while their second daughter, Emerson Clover, was born in 2024. The little girl is currently 2 years old.