The time is changing and for better; the taboo surrounding mental health disorders is dissipating as more and more people from different walks of life are talking about their experiences overcoming these situations.
Celebrities are no different; over the past few years, Bollywood has come out in full power to support the mental wellness movement. They have even shared their own personal stories to empower and help millions of others who may be going through the same issues in life.
The tragic news of Sushant Singh Rajput’s death sent shock-waves through the nation and triggered an important discussion on mental health. The 34-year-old actor reportedly ended his life by hanging himself at his Bandra house, where he was living alone during the lockdown. The reports allege that Sushant was suffering from depression for the last six months.
From Deepika Padukone to Karan Johan, here are five Bollywood actors who have opened up about their battles with depression, anxiety, and Body Dysmorphic Disorder.
Deepika Padukone
Deepika has commanded her life to success after having to fight a long battle with depression. She revealed that she would constantly feel negative despite being surrounded by people who constantly encouraged her. In 2015, Deepika not only got over her depression, but also established a foundation to help others suffering from mental health disorders.
She said, “I thought it was stress, so I tried to distract myself by focusing on work, and surrounding myself with people, which helped for a while. But the nagging feeling didn’t go away. My breath was shallow, I suffered from lack of concentration and I broke down often.”
Anushka Sharma
Anushka Sharma revealed she has anxiety and she’s on medication for the same. Here’s what she posted on Twitter:
“I have anxiety. And I’m treating my anxiety. I’m on medication for my anxiety. Why am I saying this? Because it’s a completely normal thing. It’s a biological problem. In my family there have been cases of depression. More and more people should talk openly about it. There is nothing shameful about it or something to hide. If you had constant stomach pain, wouldn’t you go to the doctor? It’s that simple. I want to make this my mission, to take any shame out of this, to educate people about this.”
Varun Dhawan
The actor was suffering from depression while shooting for ‘Badlapur’. He also opened up the issue and said, “I was depressed. I was not clinically declared depressed but I was heading there. I was very sad to a certain degree. I don’t want to use the term ‘depression’ loosely because it’s a serious illness. It definitely affected my mental health. I was prescribed and did see a doctor for it as well.”
Randeep Hooda
One of Bollywood’s most refined actors, Randeep Hooda revealed that he was into depression during the shoot of Imtiaz Ali’s, ‘Highway’ and ‘Sarbjit’ for which he shed around 18 kg in 28 days.
He said, “There was a big hangover after ‘Sarbjit’ because of the involvement that was required in the film. It all lingers on. It has happened before as well. After ‘Highway’, I was depressed for a long time. I had to tell myself that I am not a petty taxi driver and that is not my life. Nobody loves me the way other characters loved mine in the film. You have to go through such things at times.”
Shamita Shetty
Shamita Shetty recently opened up on her battle with depression and requested everyone going through the same to seek help instead of trying to fight it alone.
“Depression..anyone of us can go through it…recognise it..accept it..n reach out for help in whichever way you can!! It can pull you into a very dark place, where hope and happiness don’t exist.. it tries to break u.. it feeds on every part of ur soul.. everything hurts, you become your own worst enemy in this dark terrible world..it becomes ur reality!! The world we live in doesn’t know ur journey.. yet it’s so prompt to judge! To hate! Waiting to pull u down!! U fall in the eyes of ur own goals n expectations n u start to judge urself ,then..u MAKE ur reality a dark one! But none of that matters as this is your journey n urs alone !!!” she wrote in an Instagram post.
Karan Johar
Filmmaker Karan Johar spoke openly about his battle with depression. He said, “There was a phase in my life when I was really depressed. When I went through that phase, I thought I was going to have a cardiac arrest. I felt it in the middle of a meeting two and half years ago, after which I left the meeting in between saying I have something urgent to do and rushed to the doctor. He then said I am having an anxiety attack. I went to a psychologist post that. Then I realised that I had some internal issues to deal with, which got built up to such a point that it resulted in anxiety.” He also said, “Those sessions (medication) made a big difference to me. During those sessions, we touched on many things in my life. I felt that I did not deal entirely with the loss of my father, though it’s been 11 or 12 years, I felt the pain and hurt of certain relationships that had dwindled from my life and I was carrying all that baggage. And the fear of the future, the fear that I was not being able to find a life partner. At one point the lack of love in my life was really bothering me. Today I feel a lot more free of it. I feel there are loads of other things to look forward to.”
Hrithik Roshan
To encourage people fighting mental health disorder, actor Hrithik Roshan said, “I have been through my ups and downs. I have experienced depression and confusion. It’s a normal thing and we should be very casual when we speak about it. I have experienced issues in my life. We all go through ups and downs in our lives. The ups and downs are important because we evolve through both of them. When you go through a down it is important to have a clarity of thought. Sometimes your brain takes over and it kinds of feeds you with unwanted thoughts. Feeds you with thoughts which are not aligned with what you want to do in life and that is the time you need an objective point of view or a third person to look at you and tell you that this is what has happened because you lose awareness at that time.”
Other celebrities like Nikhil Chinappa, Shama Sikandar, Manisha Koirala, among others also came out and spoke about their battle with depression and anxiety.
