Actress Deepika Padukone has openly spoken about her battle with depression and, in 2014, launched The Live Love Laugh Foundation to support those struggling with mental health issues. Recently, the 39-year-old actress revealed how her mother, Ujjala Padukone, helped her recognise the illness and seek professional help.
During Pariksha Pe Charcha 2025, an initiative started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Deepika talked about depression and said, "After school, there were sports, then modelling, and then acting. I worked continuously, and one day, in 2014, I fainted. A few days later, I realised I had depression. Depression is something we can't see—it's invisible. It's possible that people around us feel anxious or depressed, yet we may never know because, on the outside, they seem happy and normal."
Further, the actress revealed that for the longest time, she did not share her feelings with anyone as she was living alone in Mumbai. Later, Deepika shared that when her mother came to visit her in Mumbai from Bengaluru for a few weeks, and as she was returning, the actress suddenly started crying.
"My family asked, 'What happened?', 'Did someone say something?', 'Did something happen at work?' And I said, 'I don't know what this is. I just feel completely helpless and hopeless. Mujhe jeena hi nahi hai ab.' But I was very lucky at that moment—my mother realised something was wrong and decided to call a psychologist. Mental illness used to be a stigma in our country, where people would think, 'How can I have this?' or 'If I have it, we shouldn't tell anyone,'" added Padukone.
"As soon as I started talking about my illness, I felt so free and light. From there, my journey into mental health awareness began. Depression, anxiety, and stress can happen to anyone at any time," concluded Deepika.
On the work front, Deepika was last seen in Rohit Shetty's Singham Again.
