Alanis Morissette Opens Up About Suffering 'A Bunch Of Miscarriages'

She’s now a mother-of-three, but Alanis Morissette is opening up about the difficult path to this point

Alanis Morissette and husband Mario “Souleye” Treadaway are the proud parents of 10-year-old son Ever, four-year-old daughter Onyx and 10-month-old son Winter. But in a vulnerable conversation with Dax Shepard on Friday’s Armchair Expert podcast, the Canadian singer-songwriter revealed that her journey into motherhood has been riddled with heartbreak.

“Not all of it was the ideal situation,” she recounted, revealing the reason for the age gaps between her kids. “I had a bunch of miscarriages.” She also shared that she suffered a molar pregnancy, which occurs when a fetus fails to form properly in the womb and a baby doesn’t develop.

Still, explained Morissette, the couple believed everything would work out. “We were chasing and just showing up and then surprises and then devastations and you know… all of it,” Morissette told Shepard, adding, “But, I mean, I do trust, I have this trust pilot light thing that keeps cooking along. Even when there’s a torrential downpour it’s still flickering, of hope and faith and vision for something to work out, whatever it is.”

When asked if that makes her an optimist, Morissette said, “I’m a cynical optimist. I am an optimist who will get depressed and cry, but at the end of the day there’s still that little light, that little star of Bethlehem keeps dangling over there.”

This isn’t the first time Morissette has gotten real about some of the more painful realities possible in the path toward parenthood. In a blog post published last October, she shared with fans that she experienced postpartum depression after giving birth to each of her children — most recently with baby Winter.

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“Sleep deprivation. Fogginess. Physical pain. Isolation. Anxiety. Cortisol. Recovery from childbirth,” she described her experience after welcoming Winter, going on to reference her past history with PPD. “I saw how things got richer after I came through it the last two times. I have my eye on that prize again… even as I drag my ass through the molasses.”

In fact, Morissette was still working through that most recent PPD experience when their family went on coronavirus lockdown, leading to an uptick in household tension. Accordingly, she tries to ensure her family gives her a wide berth when she’s dealing with “postpartum activity.”

“So I just kind of announce lovingly as best as possible when I go into a room,” she admitted to Shepard, adding that she tells everyone in her house, “I’m cranky mom right now.”