MUMBAI, Oct 12: In an industry where female actors are tight-lipped about various facets of their lives, the Bollywood starlet Deepika Padukone is a class apart.

During a recent event organised by the Live Laugh Love Foundation, Deepika, who has been very vocal about her battle with depression, broke down recalling her painful experience.

“Two years back, my family had come to see me. They were about to leave and I was all alone in my bedroom, curled up. My mother walked in and asked if everything was okay, I said yes. She asked again if it was work or something else that was bothering me, I said no. She asked me so many times that I felt myself choking and I broke into tears,” she said.

Wiping tears rolling down her cheeks, the Piku actor said she has been able to recover only because of her family’s support. “I want to tell my mother that if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be here. Thank you for being with me throughout the way. Thank you to my sister, my father and friends who supported me immensely.”

The diva revealed she aims to free society of the stigma attached to depression with the hope that it can be cured.

Deepika shared that to sensitise people around those suffering from depression she has launched a social campaign through her Live Love Laugh foundation, #DOBARAPOOCHO.

“In the times we are living today, we have become so competitive, which is a good thing, but we have become extremely insensitive too. Through this campaign, I dedicate this to people who have survived depression, people suffering through it even now and urge the society to become more sensitive.”

Deepika said she is extremely happy to see the stigma attached to depression losing its power as more people wrote about it to create awareness.

Deepika shared how she came out of depression, “I did not want to be in the situation I was. I wanted to come out of it desperately. As they say that every solution is within your own self, I found the strength within me and also the people I had around who made me believe that I can rely on them.”

“If there is hope, there is a way,” she added.

 
• deepika
 
• padukone
 
• breaks
 
• down
 
• recalling
 
• her
 
• battle
 
• depression