Deepika Padukone opens on her battle with depression; 'suicidal thoughts, break-down...'

Actor Deepika Padukone is touted as one of the best actors in the Bollywood industry who is credited with opening up and breaking the stigma around mental health. It was back in 2015 when the 36-year-old talked about her own struggles with mental health, thereby revealing that she was diagnosed with clinical depression in 2014 while shooting for Happy New Year. Ever since the Piku actor has always been vocal about her mental health in public and recently, during an event, Deepika revisited the time when she was dealing with depression.

'I give all the credit to my mother': Deepika on fighting depression

Opening up about her mental health struggles, Deepika recalled the time when she was going through a tough phase in her life. As per Indian Express, the Gehraiyaan actor could be heard saying that she was at the peak of her career and there were days when she just didn't want to wake up and would prefer to sleep the whole day as that was an escape for her at that time. Deepika said,

"I give all the credit to my mother for recognising the signs and symptoms because it just happened out of the blue. It was all going well. I was on a career-high so there was no apparent reason as to why I felt the way I felt. I would break down for no reason. There were days when I just didn’t want to wake up. I would sleep because sleep for me was an escape. I was suicidal at times, so had to deal with that."

“My parents live in Bangalore. So every time they visited me, even now when they visit me, I always put on a brave front that everything’s okay. You always want to show your parents that you are fine," she further added.

Arising from her personal journey with anxiety and depression, Deepika Padukone founded the LiveLoveLaugh (LLL) foundation which combines knowledge and domain expertise to create awareness about mental health, reduce the stigma associated with mental illness, and provide credible mental health resources. While launching the foundation, the Padmaavat fame actor asserted, "Through my journey to recovery, as I began to understand the stigma and lack of awareness associated with mental illness, I felt a deep need to save at least one life."

Image: Instagram/@deepikapadukone