10 Bollywood Celebrities Who Got Real About Battling Mental Illnesses

In a country such as ours, mental health concerns have never received the attention and importance they deserve—especially when compared with 'regular' physical ailments. "It's just a phase", "Give it some time, things will get better", and "You can help yourself snap out of it" are some of the many statements one often comes across as a mode of consolation, eventually turning out to have the exact opposite impact on the individual. 

However, in the wake of social media, a paradigm shift has occurred with respect to the significance given to mental health issues. These powerful mediums of self-expression have provided 'emotional problems' with a privileged platform, open to discussion. And as people from different walks of life—especially celebrities and those in the glamour industry—speak out about their grueling experiences with mental health issues, the once 'taboo' topic will gradually become a conversation starter, inviting free and honest dialogue on mental health, triggers, and how to cope better. 

Recently, actor Alia Bhatt opened up about dealing with recurring bouts of anxiety, and cricketer Virat Kohli spoke on suffering with depression. Here are a few celebrities who have contributed to forging a future that doesn't associate mental health with stigma.

1. Anushka Sharma

"I have anxiety. And I'm treating my anxiety. I'm on medication for my anxiety. Why am I saying this? Because it's a completely normal thing. It's a biological problem. In my family, there have been cases of depression. More and more people, should talk openly about it. There is nothing shameful about it or something to hide. If you had a constant stomach pain, wouldn't you go to the doctor? It's that simple. I want to make this my mission, to take any shame out of this, to educate people about this."

2. Varun Dhawan

"I was depressed. I was not clinically declared depressed, but I was heading there. I was very sad to a certain degree. I don't want to use the term 'depression' loosely, because it's a serious illness. It definitely affected my mental health. I was prescribed, and did see a doctor for it, as well."

3. Karan Johar 

"There was a phase in my life when I was really depressed. When I went through that phase, I thought I am getting a cardiac arrest. I felt it in the middle of a meeting two and half years ago, after which I left the meeting in between saying I have something urgent to do and rushed to the doctor. He then said I am having an anxiety attack. I went to a psychologist post that. Then I realised that I had some internal issues to deal with, which got built up to such point that it resulted in anxiety."

4. Alia Bhatt

“I haven't been depressed but I've had bouts of anxiety. It comes and goes. It's been happening quite a bit since the past five to six months. It's not like an anxiety attack but I just feel low.”

5. Deepika Padukone 

"I woke up feeling empty and directionless, I didn't know where to go, I didn't know what to do and I had these bouts of feeling so low that I would just start crying at the drop of the hat and didn’t know what to do. I want people to know that you know what, it's something I have been through and something that I could deal with because I had a fantastic support system."

6. Virat Kohli

"I felt like the loneliest guy in the world...it's not a great feeling to wake up knowing that you won't be able to score runs and I think all batsmen have felt that at some stage that you are not in control of anything at all."

7. Ileana D'Cruz

"I used to sit in the corner and cry for hours. I think it's important for everybody to get themselves checked – mental health is something that's very important. Anxiety has been a big problem for me, but I think my biggest struggle has been depression. For me, my depression doesn't revolve around my work, it revolves around me personally. I apparently have Body Dysmorphic Disorder. I didn't know that. When I told my therapist, she was like 'what', and then she said, hang on, I think you have this thing – and then I googled it and I said 'makes sense.' You get fixated on one body part, and you're just obsessed with how much you don't like it. That's pretty much it for me. But I've reached a point where it's like – I mean, it's who I am. The people you see on magazine covers, they're touched up, slimmed down, covered up. And there's no such thing as a perfect body type – they go on about how the hourglass is the perfect body type, then the next year it'll be the athletic type. What are you going to do, change your body type every year? Just be happy, be healthy."

8. Shahrukh Khan

"Due to the shoulder injury, and the suffering, I had got into a depression mode, but now I am out of it. I feel happy and boosted with energy."

9. Hritik Roshan

"I have been through my ups and downs. I have experienced depression and confusion. It's a normal thing and we should be very casual when we speak about it. I have experienced issues in my life. We all go through ups and downs in our lives. The ups and downs are important because we evolve through both of them. When you go through a down it is important to have a clarity of thought. Sometimes your brain takes over and it kinds of feeds you with unwanted thoughts. Feeds you with thoughts which are not aligned with what you want to do in life and that is the time you need an objective point of view or a third person to look at you and tell you that this is what has happened because you lose awareness at that time."

10. Ranveer Singh 

When one of his friend's committed suicide, a source close to Ranveer said, "Ranveer doesn't like to show his emotions in public, but people close to him, especially Deepika, knew that this tragedy had hit him hard. She saw him struggle with his grief, mixed with guilt. He even saw a therapist for a while. Deepika was his silent support at the time, and she saw first-hand how depression was a serious disorder."