Deepika Padukone on her depression: I had no purpose, didn't feel like living anymore
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Although she has talked about her battle with the mental health disease in the past, Deepika Padukone relived her ordeal while sharing her thoughts and feelings from that period in her life with Amitabh Bachchan.
Bollywood queen Deepika Padukone has the world on her feet but back in 2014, the actress was reeling under the impact of severe depression.
Although she has talked about her battle with the mental health disease in the past, Deepika relived her ordeal while sharing her thoughts and feelings from that period in her life with Amitabh Bachchan.
On Friday, she made a guest appearance on the TV quiz show Kaun Banega Crorepati 13 with Farah Khan and the 'Piku' actress revisited those bleak years yet again.
"I was diagnosed with depression in 2014. I used to feel weird that people don't talk about it. It was a stigma and people don't even know much about it. During that time, I realized that if I am experiencing this, then there would be many people out there facing depression as well. My ambition in life was that if I could save just one life, then my purpose was solved. We have come a long way now," she reportedly said.
When Bachchan asked her as to how she realized she was depressed, Deepika reportedly said, "Suddenly mujhe aise laga ki mere paet mein ek ajeeb sa feeling hota tha, ek khaalipan mein mehsoos karti thi (I used to get a very weird feeling, like there was an emptiness inside me)." The actress added, "I didn't feel like going to work or meeting anybody. I did not want to go out. I didn't feel like doing anything. Many times, I don't know if I should say this but I didn't feel like living anymore. I felt like I had no purpose."
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Deepika added, "My parents had come to visit me in Mumbai from Bengaluru once. So, when they were leaving for the airport, I started crying suddenly. My mother noticed that there was something wrong with me. She felt something was off with the way I was crying. It was not the usual cry. The way I was crying, it was like a cry for help. She asked me to visit a psychiatrist. I did that and recovered after many months. But mental health is something that you can't forget about even after you recover. It is something you have to take care of. I have introduced some lifestyle changes now."
Deepika Padukone has since been a mental health awareness activist and runs her own foundation for the same called the Live Love Laugh Foundation.
