#143 Kevin Maguire: Building The Ultimate Group Text for Dads

Just a few months after the birth of his son in 2019, Kevin Maguire noticed he wasn’t feeling quite right. At times he resented his newborn son, other times he would cry for seemingly no reason. He lost interest in his work and some of his hobbies, and he just couldn’t quite shake this idea that maybe something was wrong with him. After all, wasn’t this supposed to be one the happiest moments of his life?

Then Maguire discovered he was suffering from paternal postpartum depression, and the diagnosis sent him down a path that changed his life. Two years later he launched The New Fatherhood, a hugely popular international forum for men that Esquire dubbed “one big group text with other guys fumbling their way through fatherhood.” Beginning with one email to friends that began with the line “being a dad isn’t easy,” The New Fatherhood now boasts a weekly newsletter read by nearly 20,000 dads in more than 150 countries. 

On this episode of Paternal, Maguire discusses founding the forum, the kinds of vulnerable reactions he’s received from dads over the years, and why we live in an era with the biggest changes facing fathers in generations. Maguire’s new book, The New Fatherhood, is available wherever you buy books.