Deepika Padukone reacts to Dwayne Johnson’s ‘I didn’t know what depression was’ statement

During a recent interview, Dwayne Johnson got candid about the bouts of depression he’s undergone throughout his life, dating back to when he was in college. On Sunday, actor Deepika Padukone shared a post on Dwayne’s statement about him suffering from depression, which was originally shared by a news portal. Along with it, Deepika wrote, “Mental health matters.” She also tagged her mental health foundation, The Live Love Laugh Foundation, in her Instagram Stories. Also read: Dwayne Johnson says it’s important for men to speak up about depression

Deepika Padukone, who has been an advocate of mental health awareness, has been extensively working towards de-stigmatising mental illness in India. The actor, who came out in 2015 as having battled depression, runs the Live Love Laugh Foundation, which aims to help those struggling with their mental health. She once again drew attention to the importance of mental health, citing Dwayne Johnson’s example.

During a recent appearance on The Pivot podcast, Dwayne had explained that he first felt depressed, when he was at the University of Miami, and he injured his shoulder, which kept him from being able to play on the football team. He had said, “I didn’t want to go to school… I was ready to leave. I left school. I didn’t take any midterms, and I just left. But the interesting thing, at that time, is I just didn’t know what it was. I didn’t know what mental health was. I didn’t know what depression was. I just knew I didn’t want to be there, wasn’t going to any of the team meetings, wasn’t participating in anything.”

In 2015, Deepika Padukone revealed that she had been diagnosed with depression the year before and had sought help. The actor had spoken publicly about her struggle with depression in an interview. Speaking to NDTV, Deepika had said at the time, “I woke up one morning just feeling empty you know like this pitt-ish feeling in my stomach that I was telling them that I get this pittish feeling in my stomach. I woke up like feeling 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.”

Deepika had also said, “If I can impact one life in this entire process of speaking up and letting people know that it’s something I have been through and something that I could deal with because I had a fantastic support system.”

Deepika was last seen Pathaan alongside Shah Rukh Khan and John Abraham. She is now working on Fighter, her first film with Hrithik Roshan. The action film is also directed by Pathaan’s Siddharth Anand.