Deepika Padukone talks about her depression and how her mother helped her in the battle

Deepika Padukone is one of the celebrities who has been very vocal about mental health and depression. Time and again, the 'Chennai Express' actress has bravely shared her battle with depression & mental health with the world.

Padukone, who is also running a foundation 'Live Love Laugh' that helps people who need help with anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems, recently attended an event in Mumbai, where she again recalled the tough days of her life and revealed that her situation was so grave that she even "felt suicidal'' many times.

Suicidal thoughts - 

''I was on a career-high, and everything was going well, so there was no reason or no apparent reason why I should’ve felt the way I was feeling, but 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," she added.

Her mother helped her to get through the rough patch - 

Further, she thanked her mother Ujjala Padukone who helped to cross all the hurdles bravely that were pulling her back. She said that her mother was the first one to recognise her symptoms and suggested seeking medical help.

"I give all the credit to my mother for recognizing the signs and symptoms...because it just happened out of the blue,'' she said, as per ANI. 

"My parents live in Bengaluru and every time they visited me, even now when they visit me, I always put on a brave front, like everything’s okay, you know you always want to show your parents that you’re fine...so I was doing one of those things like I’m fine...until they were leaving one day, they were going back to Bengaluru and I broke down and my mother asked me the usual hygiene questions like...is it a boyfriend? Is it someone at work? Has something happened? And I just didn’t have answers...it was none of these things. And it just came from a really empty, hollow place. And she knew instantly, and I think that for me was God sent."

Explains why she set up 'Live Love Laugh' NGO -

Deepika has been awarded multiple times for her dedication and contribution toward raising awareness around mental health problems. Talking further, she shared the back story on why she set up an NGO ‘Live Love Laugh’ for the issue. "This (her depression diagnosis) was one of the reasons why I set up this foundation, for us to be able to create that awareness, to be sensitive to the people around us, to look around us."

On the work front -

Deepika was last seen in 'Gehraiyaan' this year and will next feature in 'Pathaan' co-starring Shah Rukh Khan and 'Project K' with Prabhas. 

(With inputs from agencies)