Why Candiace Dillard Bassett Almost Died After Giving Birth

Candiace Dillard Bassett is starting her new life as a mom but revealed that it almost ended from a serious complication days after giving birth. “It was really scary,” she said.

Candiace Dillard Bassett attends 2024 Ebony Power 100 List - Arrivals

Source: Rodin Eckenroth / Getty

Everything seemed perfect for Candiace’s birth story, including the full glam beat she put on before meeting her baby boy. However, she wasn’t completely out of the woods after welcoming her bundle of joy. The former reality star opened up about her terrifying postpartum experience in an interview with Page Six.

As BOSSIP previously reported, Candiace and her husband Chris Bassett welcomed their first child together on Oct. 3. As she tried to recover and care for her baby boy, Jett, she went from the best day of her life to what could have been the last days.

“There were moments where I felt like I was going to die, like, if I’m just being very honest,” Candiace said. “I remember saying that to Chris, like, ‘I feel like I’m going to die.’ And he’s like, ‘Don’t say that.’ And it was just really intense. Yeah, it was really scary.”

Candiace Feared The Worst When She “Couldn’t Walk” Or “Breastfeed” After Giving Birth: “Am I Going To Live Long Enough?”

Although Candiace consistently brought the drama on RHOP, that fear wasn’t an exaggeration. She developed serious symptoms like “a fever of 103 [degrees Fahrenheit]” and “excruciating lower abdomen pain” that no “Tylenol and Ibuprofen” could relieve.

“Am I going to live long enough for my my son to know me? … Am I on borrowed time? … Am I a ticking time bomb?” she remembered wondering as her health continued to decline. It’s a fear Candiace still can’t shake as she still agonizes about “doing everything [she’s] supposed to be doing.”

Even more concerning for the new mom, she “couldn’t walk,” “eat” or “breastfeed.”

“When you have a brand-new baby, you want to mother. And that is just such an awful feeling — to not be able to mother my child,” she continued.

Fortunately, Candiace’s doctors were able to catch and treat the potentially fatal blood clot that formed in her left ovary. There’s a reason maternal health advocates are fighting for more post-partum care for what they call the “fourth trimester.” New moms need just as much vigilance and treatment in the first months after giving birth.

Source: Brian Stukes / Getty

The current treatment for Candiace’s blood clot consists of anticoagulant injections twice daily for the “foreseeable future.” She credits Chris with being a “capable, amazing, active partner” who held down her and Jett at the same time.

Of course, Candiace’s mother, Dorothy Watts also helped out during those critical weeks of “glam ma” duty when she first brought Jett home.

Read more about Candiace’s recovery, how she dealt with postpartum depression, and her snapback comeback after the flip!

Candiace Dillard Bassett Suffered From Postpartum Depression On Top Of Her Medical Complications

In addition to needing more care for physical issues, the postpartum period often takes a toll on mental and emotional health. Candiace shared that she was also “dealing with postpartum blues and then feeling depressed.”

“The postpartum period is a very sensitive time, and it’s a time when you really have to listen to your body and not be afraid to say, ‘OK, this doesn’t feel right. This is not how this is supposed to be. This is not just regular postpartum. This is something else.’ And for me, it was something else,” she revealed.

The R&B baddie is keeping it real about motherhood as the U.S. continues to face a maternal mortality crisis, which only got worse with recent bans against life-saving reproductive care. Famous Black women like Candiace and even, Serena Williams, faced dangerous risks like blood clots.

“You hear about people with blood clots, and they go to their lungs or their brain, and they’re out of here! And as a young, healthy woman who worked out my entire pregnancy, who has always eaten right, it’s, like, are you kidding me? Like, why? Like, why would I have this issue?” Candiace asked, realizing no one is immune.

She is now an advocate for “postpartum therapy,” which she says is vital “you are going through health problems or not.”

“Your brain is going through so much, and you have the biggest hormone drop of life when you give birth. It can manifest in so many different ways, and you just don’t know what you don’t know,” she concluded.

It looks like the “Drive Back” diva is already in her “snap back” era as Candiace strutted her stunning post-baby body on the red carpet for the Ebony Power 100 gala last week.

We see you, muva!