Gwyneth Paltrow opened up to Oprah yesterday on suffering from postnatal depression, something she didn’t experience after having her daughter, Apple, in 2004.

“It was very strange because I wasn’t expecting it at all…not that you would expect it,” she says. “After I had Apple, I would characterize it as postnatal euphoria. I was on cloud nine. I was in this bubble. Then, when I had him, I just didn’t feel okay. I didn’t feel right. He came out and I was like, ‘This is really strange. It’s not the same. What’s wrong with me?’ Then, I just went down kind of a slippery slope with it.”

For six months, Gwyneth says she felt like a flat line. “I didn’t realize what was wrong with me. I just thought, ‘I’m not myself. I’m not connected.’ I didn’t feel integrated in my body,” she says. “I wish I had known because I would have gone on medication or addressed it in some way or done something.”

Eventually, Gwyneth says Tracy’s workouts and a healthier diet helped her break through the darkness. “I started exercising, and I started recommitting to eating well, because when I was pregnant, I was eating doughnuts and kind of bad food,” she says. “I have a real thing for fried dough.”

During her postnatal depression, Gwyneth says she sought guidance from family and friends, including Madonna, a mother of three. One evening over dinner, Gwyneth says the music superstar gave her some perspective.

“She was very wise about life’s bigger picture and that when obstacles come up in our life, it’s for a very specific reason. They’re there to teach us something that we haven’t learned yet,” she says. “She made me see that my postnatal depression was an opportunity for me to change certain things about the way I was living and the way I was going forward. She really sort of reorganized my molecules in that situation.”

What most people don’t know, Gwyneth says, is that Madonna’s a very caring woman who’s also very tough. “She’s got an amazing sort of dichotomy,” she says. “She’s very wise, and she has a very soft, soft side.”

Like other moms with small children, Gwyneth says she and Madonna often get together for playdates at home or in the park. “I’m very, very involved in [my kids'] lives and what they’re doing and where they’re going,” she says. “I take them to the park and meet other parents.”

Gwyneth says Madonna’s children, Lourdes, Rocco and David, her adopted son from Malawi, represent their mother’s greatest qualities. “Her children are beyond,” Gwyneth says. “You can measure somebody by their children ultimately, and these children are phenomenal. … They’re very polite. They’re sweet, kind, conscientious.”

At home, Gwyneth says 3-year-old David likes to perform dance routines from Madonna’s concerts on the living room floor. When the kids get together, Gwyneth says her son Moses likes to listen to his father, Chris Martin’s, Coldplay tracks, while David prefers his mom’s music. “It’s very funny,” she says.

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Did any of you watch this Oprah?  I watched it last night, and I just can’t get over how beautiful she is.  She really is very beautiful, her skin, everything…she just glows!  I bet I’d glow if I worked out 2 hours a day, 6 days a week!