Thomas Rhett and his wife, Lauren Akins, are bravely opening up about a scary time in their family, when Akins was battling postpartum depression, after the birth of their last child, daughter Lillie, born in 2021.

“After Ada James, our marriage had a falling apart. After Lennon, the world had a falling apart,” Akins recalls on her Live in Love With Lauren Akins podcast (via Today), referring to the pandemic. “After Lillie, I had a falling apart.”

For Rhett, it was frightening to see his wife struggle, but be unsure how to help, especially while respecting her privacy.

“After Lillie, I do remember it was scary for me, and there’s not many people you can talk to about that because you don’t want it to sound like you’re gossiping behind your wife’s back,” Rhett acknowledges. “It’s not like you want to call a buddy and be like, ‘Hey, my wife is acting super strange.'”

“Lifeless is not the right word, but along the lines of dull,” he added. “It felt like a hopeless place for me.”

Fortunately, Akins ultimately realized that, even though this was her third pregnancy, what she was experiencing was unlike anything she had dealt with in the past, and that she needed help to heal.

“In the back of my mind, I was like, ‘This is not normal,’” Akins remembers. “I have experienced birthing children before and I’ve not felt this.”

Now on the other side, the mother of four offers help for others who may also be battling postpartum depression, which affects approximately 15 percent of all women who give birth. For Akins, it was crucial to get professional help, and have a close-knit group of friends that could help her deal with her depression.

“Having that community that you know and trust is crucial because then you know that they are coming from such a place of truth and loving you (that) you don’t get offended by very much,” Akins says. “We had a lot of people walk through that with us and I’m grateful for all of those people,”

Rhett is currently on his Home Team Tour, where he will be joined by his family for at least two of the weekends on the road.

“When they are out there, my favorite part of them being out there is that I get to show them what I really do for a living, and I get to show them that it is possible to love what you do for a living,” Rhett says. “I really want them to grow up knowing that whatever they do in life, that it’s okay to love your job. You don’t have to go to something that you dread every day. You can really carve your own path and do something that you love. So if that’s what they take away from me on the road with me, then then I’ve done my job.”

Rhett’s Home Team Tour concludes with two back-to-back shows at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. Find music and tour dates at ThomasRhett.com.

Read ‘Thomas Rhett: 11 Things To Know About the Superstar’ here.