Louise Thompson: Partner Ryan Libbey has PTSD following traumatic childbirth

By Mike Bedigan, PA Los Angeles Correspondent

Louise Thompson says her partner Ryan Libbey has suffered from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following her traumatic childbirth experience.

The Made in Chelsea star, 32, said the fitness trainer, 31, “still lies awake all night” to check on her and “probably feels guilty” he could not have helped more during the distressing incident.

It comes after the reality star shared an update on her own progress following her multiple health issues, stemming from the complicated birth of her son, Leo-Hunter, late last year.

She has previously been open with her recovery struggles, and returned to hospital last week following “alarming” blood tests.

Writing in a lengthy post on Instagram on Wednesday she said: “To put it bluntly I’m struggling to move on with ‘normal’ life.

“Every day I feel physically very unwell and every other day I seem to have an hour long period (sometimes longer) where I feel messed up in my brain – I don’t know what it is, but it feels like brain damage or a mini stroke.

“Maybe it’s a weird processing experience.

“It feels like I’m either really REALLY low in some specific chemical/hormone or way too high.

“But either way I can’t think properly or talk properly during those episodes.”

Asked by a fan about how Libbey was coping with his own mental health issues, she wrote on her Instagram story: “He had to hold the fort.

“He was strong, strong, strong and then some more strong and then BAM he had an almighty crash.”

She said that it had been difficult for Libbey to get help from the NHS and had resorted to seeking private care, as he was suffering from conditions including PTSD.

“We never actually talk about what has happened between the two of us.

“One day I would like to do couples counselling to go through how what happened shaped our experience and how it’s not our fault that things turned out the way they did.

She added: “He’s so protective so probably feels guilty he couldn’t have helped me. Our experiences are so different. My head dealt with living through an awful experience.

“He had to witness everything with clear vision. He still lies awake all night to check on me, he’s worried I won’t wake up.”

“(It) must have been horrible to witness what he did and be so powerless. He had no preparation for looking after a baby solo either.

“He had to bring him in every day to see me which caused him a lot of stress. Not a lot of lovely home bonding time like I’d imagined.”

Thompson appeared in Made in Chelsea’s first series in 2011, progressing to become one of the E4 show’s main characters, while partner Libbey joined the cast in 2016 when the series was filming in the south of France.

The couple became engaged in 2018 after he proposed during a hiking trip in Los Angeles.