Deepika Padukone's Message At Davos For Those Who Suffer From Mental Illnesses: 'You Are Not Alone'

Chhapaak actor Deepika Padukone spoke about her mental illness journey at the World Economic Forum in Davos saying she had a love-hate relationship with it, and highlighted that depression and anxiety were common illnesses that could be treated. 

Deepika made the remarks while accepting the annual Crystal Award. 

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“My love and hate relationship with this has taught me a lot and I want to tell everyone suffering from this that you are not alone,” PTI quoted the actor as saying. 

Deepika runs the Live, Love, Laugh foundation that aims to spread awareness and reduce stigma around mental illnesses. 

“Depression is a common, yet serious illness. It is important to understand that anxiety and depression is like any other illness and treatable. It was experience with this illness that encouraged me to set up Live Love Laugh,” she said. 

Highlighting the impact mental illnesses have people and on the economy, she said, “In the time it has taken me to accept this award, the world has lost one more person to suicide.”

“One trillion dollars is the estimated impact of depression and mental illness on the world economy,” she said while receiving the award. 

Deepika was one of the first Bollywood celebrities to speak about their battle with a mental illness in 2015. 

 In her  interview on NDTV  in 2015, she said, “The reason why it is like this way is I think there are various reasons and a lot of it are because lack of knowledge and even if people are aware of the mental illness, I think there is sort of stigma attached to it which you know, let’s not talk about it, you can’t take medication for your mind and for your brain because nobody does that, what are other people going to think, you are going to lose your job. So all these things and I think the reason why I chose to speak up,” she said. 

While Deepika talking about her battle with depression has been called a “gimmick” by many, it began conversations on the issue like never before. 

Since then, several Indian celebrities including Anushka Sharma, Alia Bhatt, Shraddha Kapoor, Shaheen Bhatt and Hrithik Roshan have spoke publicly about the subject that still remains a huge taboo. 

(with PTI inputs)