World Mental Health Day: When Deepika Padukone Broke Stereotypes And Spoke About Her Mental Illness Explicitly

Deepika Padukone is one such actress who has been vocal about suffering from depression in the past. Gathering courage from her, we later saw many people talking about suffering from depression explicitly. Time and again Dippy leaves no chance to talk about the mental illness and create awareness. On the day of World Mental Health, which happens to be Today, October 10, let’s take you back to the time when Deepika Padukone spoke about depression like never before. She revealed how she struggled to wake up in the morning one fine day while she was ruling the silver screen, on the professional front.

During her interview with Hindustan Times, in 2015, Deepika Padukone opened up about how she felt different one morning. She told HT, “In early 2014, while I was being appreciated for my work, one morning, I woke up feeling different. A day earlier, I had fainted due to exhaustion; it was all downhill from there. I felt a strange emptiness in my stomach.” “Every morning, it was a struggle to wake up and shoot for Happy New Year’s (2014) climax. Finally, I had a word with Anna aunty. She flew to Mumbai from Bengaluru, and I talked my heart out to her. She concluded that I was suffering from anxiety and depression,” she had added.

Deepika in the same interview revealed that the World Health Organisation said that Depression is the most widespread epidemic in the next few years. She had then said, “We talk about all kinds of ailments, but this is probably one of the deadliest mental disorders. Nothing, including life, makes sense to people suffering from it. Overcoming it has made me a stronger person and I now value my life much more. Accepting it and speaking about it has liberated me. I have stopped taking medication, and I hope my example will help people reach out for help.”

She concluded saying, “Being sad and being depressed are two different things. Also, people going through depression don’t look so, while someone sad will look sad. The most common reaction is, ‘How can you be depressed? You have everything going for you. You are the supposed number one heroine and have a plush home, car, movies… What else do you want?’ It’s not about what you have or don’t have. People talk about physical fitness, but mental health is equally important. I see people suffering, and their families feel a sense of shame about it, which doesn’t help. One needs support and understanding.” (ALSO READ: Ranveer Singh Makes First Social Media Post After Wife Deepika Padukone’s Interrogation By NCB In Bollywood Drug Probe)