Is Whitney Port Suffering From Depression? Here’s What We Know!

Whitney Port responded to persistent questions about her weight by claiming to have consulted a specialist who believes the Hills alum is actually dealing with sadness rather than an eating disorder.

Port, 38, said on her podcast With Whit’s episode from last Tuesday that she just saw a “nutritionist/psychiatrist” who had been suggested to her by her closest friend.

“My best friend, Andrea, was concerned about me, but she didn’t say anything until I said something on my social media,” Port said, alluding to an Instagram post where she recognised that readers — as well as her husband Tim Rosenman — raised worries that she was “too thin.”

Port claims that the therapist believes that Port may not have an eating issue but instead has “neurovegetative depression,” which is characterised by lethargy and “not necessarily making things a priority when they actually are.”

Neurovegetative symptoms, according to the National Institute of Health, are related to “sleep and appetite/weight.” The mother of 6-year-old Sonny admitted to using antidepressants and expressed suspicions that depression may run in the family.

“People in my family weren’t technically diagnosed, but I have heard and seen behaviours that exhibit some depression so I feel like that is a little bit innately in me.” She also mentioned that her difficulties may be caused by “environmental” issues.

The therapist said “There’s being on TV at a young age, your dad passing, your aunt committing suicide, dealing with mom’s depression and sadness since dad passing, multiple miscarriages. There’s a lot of environmental challenges that I think have made me feel the way I feel: just a little bit depressed, just a little bit down.”

Port, who debuted on The Hills at age 21, has stayed honest about the difficulties she and her family have faced. She has also talked about looking into surrogacy to grow her family after suffering many miscarriages.

Port claims that the therapist’s initial diagnosis “really made sense to me.”

“I feel like on paper everything is great,” the designer said. “I’m so happy, I really am. I have a beautiful marriage, a beautiful son, a beautiful house, like, food on my table, I get to travel, I mostly love my job.”

“I’m like, ‘What is the issue?’ And I think it’s just all these underlying things that have slowly chipped away at some self-confidence, added to a little bit of what is in me [with my family’s history]. And I think that’s what’s affecting my weight, and my food intake, and I feel empowered because I don’t think that I have an eating disorder, and she didn’t think that I had an eating disorder.”