Jones, who plays Betty Draper in the hit television show, had her own placenta dehydrated and turned into capsules after having her only son, Xander, now 16 months old.

She has now told Glamour magazine it is a “very civilised thing which can help women with depression and fatigue”.

“I was never depressed or sad or down after the baby was born, so I’d highly suggest it to any pregnant woman,” she told the April edition of the magazine.

Saying she should “never have told anybody about that” because of the fuss it caused, she added: “It’s not gross or witchcrafty”.