Louis Theroux has low moments where he thinks he’s "the worst dad ever".
The 48-year-old documentary filmmaker – who has sons Frederick, Albert and Walter with his wife Nancy Strang – says he was inspired to make his new documentary ‘Mothers on the Edge’ because he has struggled with parenting and wanted to raise awareness about mental illnesses that can occur after having a baby.
Louis appeared on ‘The Zoe Ball Show’ on Friday (10.05.19) and he spoke about his woes and said: "When we had our first baby, when I left for work I sometimes felt like I was leaving a burning building!
"It was that sort of thing, ‘get me out of here! Get me back to work where actually you can put your feet on the desk and have a coffee.’
"You’re busy but you are in sort of an organised setting where people are being polite and respectful. And then you go back home and it’s like going into a warzone. It’s just often chaotic.
"There are times as a parent where you often think ‘I must be the worst dad that ever lived. I don’t think I’m equipped to do this, perhaps we should think about passing the baby on to someone else.’ "
And the documentary maker – who had been contemplating the subject for a long time – said he was also intrigued about learning more about struggling mothers when a work colleague told him about postpartum psychosis.
He said: "Someone at work who was having a baby, mentioned this condition postpartum psychosis which is where a new mum with no previous history of mental illness has a psychotic episode.
"I thought it was fascinating and maybe this is a way of dealing with these themes of what it is like to be a new mum or dad in an extreme setting."
Louis Theroux considered himself to be ‘the worst dad ever’
