Deepika Padukone opens up about battling depression, suicidal thoughts
Actress Deepika Padukone opened up about her struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts in the latest episode of Pariksha Pe Charcha, sharing how she silently battled mental health challenges for a long time and did not have the will to live back then.
It was her mother who first noticed that something was wrong, Deepika recalled during the interactive show launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sharing with students different ways to cope with exam-related stress and its impact on mental health.
“I transitioned from school to sports, then modeling, and eventually acting. I kept pushing myself until, in 2014, I suddenly fainted. It was only later that I realised I was struggling with depression. The thing about depression is that it's invisible - you can't always see it. There might be people around us battling anxiety or depression, yet we may never know because, on the outside, they seem happy and normal,” Deepika said.
“When my mother came to see me in Mumbai, on the day she was leaving for Bangalore, I suddenly broke down. My family asked me all sorts of questions about my work, but all I could say was, ‘I don't know. I just feel helpless and hopeless. Mujhe jeena hi nahi hai’. Thankfully, my mother recognised the signs and suggested I see a psychologist,” the 39-year-old actress added.
“In our country, mental health carries a stigma, making it difficult to talk about. But as soon as I started speaking about it, I felt lighter. Anxiety, stress, and depression can affect anyone, and talking about it truly eases the burden," she further said.
Deepika has been an advocate for mental health awareness for years and founded The Live Love Laugh Foundation to support individuals struggling with mental health issues.
Deepika and her husband, actor Ranveer Singh, welcomed their first child, a girl who they named Dua, in September last year. Professionally, Deepika was last seen in Rohit Shetty’s cop universe film Singham Again.
Source: Telegraph, India
