Shawn Johnson details feeling ‘disconnected’ and ‘so much tension’ in marriage to Andrew East

Shawn Johnson is getting candid about feeling “disconnected” from her husband, Andrew East, when she experienced postpartum depression after giving birth to their third child in 2023.

“Our third baby is the greatest blessing and he’s amazing, but he was just so different than the other two,” the Olympic gymnast shares in a forthcoming episode of the “Mind If We Talk” podcast, per E! News.

Referring to her 2-year-old son, Barrett, she says, “He wasn’t eating, he wasn’t sleeping, he was a colicky baby. There were so many things that I had never dealt with … I was losing control of myself.”

Johnson, 34, describes the sensation of feeling as if she was “drowning,” admitting, “I didn’t know how to help or ask for help for myself because I knew it was my job to figure out how to help my baby first.”

“By the time I could help our baby, I had lost control to [the point] where I didn’t even know how to work myself back to normal,” she adds.

The athlete explains that a routine of being out in the sun and watching a funny movie every day wasn’t filling her with the same joy, and she didn’t know how to ask East, 34, for help.

“It caused so much tension with us,” she says. “And I didn’t even know what was wrong.”

“We had gotten to a point where it had gotten, just not normal,” Johnson continues.

“I don’t want to say it got bad, but we were disconnected and I was cold and I was distant. And I remember you sat me down and you said, ‘We’re going to go to therapy.’” 

The gold medalist recalls feeling depleted and ultimately agreeing with East’s request because she didn’t have the energy to argue with him.

Johnson credits therapy as “the very first thing that started healing [her]” and the “greatest gift” from East.

“I never had doubt in us, and I never had doubt in Andrew, but I always doubt myself because I am a perfectionist and I want to succeed,” she says.

Johnson elaborates further, stating that she wants to “be the best” at her job as a mother and wife.

Aside from Barrett, the couple, who tied the knot in 2016, are also the parents to a 6-year-old daughter, Drew Hazel, and a 4-year-old son, Jett James.

Johnson openly shares her family life via Instagram and shared in 2024 how she got five new tattoos to honor East and their kids.