Deepika Padukone is one of those celebrities who have been vocal about their struggle with mental health issues. As someone who has herself battled with depression, Deepika has launched a new initiative to provide assistance to frontline workers in overcoming mental health issues amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Through the initiative ‘Frontline Assist’ the sale proceeds from the Deepika Padukone Closet will go to NGO Sangath’s dedicated Covid-19 well-being centre.
Talking about her battle with depression the actress said, “It basically started in February 2014…I felt empty, directionless and it just felt life had no meaning or purpose. I couldn’t feel anything physically or emotionally. I just felt this void… I felt this for days, weeks and months until one day my family was here and they were going back home and when they were packing their bags, I was sitting in their room and suddenly broke down. That’s when my mother realised for the first time that something was different. My cry was different. It wasn’t the usual boyfriend issue or stress at work. She kept asking me is it this or that. I couldn’t pin point one specific reason. It was her experience and presence of mind that she encouraged me to seek help.”
“Life post mental illness is a ‘before and after’. I had a particular life before depression and I have a very different life after that. I keep saying that there’s not a day that goes by without me thinking about my mental health. To ensure I don’t go back into that space, it’s very important for me to focus on the quality of my sleep, nutrition, hydration, exercise, how do I process stress and my thoughts and mindfulness. These are the things I have to do on daily basis not because they are fancy words or it’s cool to do this but I won’t be able to survive if I don’t do all these things,” she concluded.
In 2015 Deepika had revealed that she was diagnosed with depression a year before and had sought help.