Rachel Bilson clears up remarks about her split with Bill Hader being more difficult than childbirth

Rachel Bilson has cleared up her remarks about her split from Bill Hader being more difficult than childbirth, admitting the comments had been slightly misconstrued. 

In a previous episode of her Broad Ideas podcast, Bilson opened up about how challenging she found the breakup – not least because it happened in the middle of a global pandemic. 

"I went through a really hard breakup and it was during the pandemic and I could not leave my house," she said. 

"I had nothing else to do but sit in it and deal with it and feel it. It was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done, harder than childbirth." 

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She added: "If you actually face it, you can come out of it and be like, 'OK, I did that, and I’m ready for the next thing'." 

Bilson, who shares seven-year-old daughter Briar with former partner Hayden Christensen, has now explained that her comments were misunderstood by many people – stressing the difference between pain and difficulty.

Appearing on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast yesterday (31 August), she recalled going through the split during the pandemic, saying: “I had to deal with this. I had to deal with being alone and taking care of my kid and everything else. Being isolated and not being able to connect with any humans, not being able to help myself.” 

She went on: “I got into a depression, all of these things. That time having to be forced to face all of your s**t, I said was harder than childbirth. Is anything more painful? F**k no. Maybe kidney stones, which definitely is a close second. But no, I didn’t say that, you know?” 

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Bilson confirmed that she and Hader – who has three children with ex-wife Maggie Carey – had ended their relationship in June 2020, having broken up over the phone in order to keep their respective families safe.

“It was not in person,” she said.

“He has his own family to think about, I have my own family to think about and like obviously with Briar’s dad, it was like our bubble. So like we’re not going to see anyone. He’s not going to see anyone. So it was definitely not done in, like, your normal in-person way.”

However, Bilson recognised that the breakup was a 'blessing in disguise', saying it encouraged her to become more involved in therapy, while also pursuing other things she'd always 'wanted to do'.

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