Ira Khan on being a star kid: Being a part of the family I am, has affected my mental health

She has fought clinical depression for some years now, but Ira Khan has emerged stronger from the battle. Daughter of actor Aamir Khan and ex wife Reena Dutta, being in the public eye surely must have had some impact on her mental health too, we ask. And she agrees. “Depression doesn’t have one cause. What you are brought up around will shape your personality. It would be silly to say that growing up in the family I grew up in, did not affect my state of mind. Every single thing that happened in my life, did. So yes, 100 percent being a part of the family I have has affected my mental health. In some ways, it has helped, and in some ways been unhelpful,” she admits.

But using the position and privilege it comes with, Khan now spearheads a foundation which aims to help people facing mental health issues.

“I was afraid people would not understand me, when I was diagnosed. I had financial resources and also a support system, people who cared about me. Even then my depression and fear crippled me. I became scared of that feeling, and I was also afraid what if there are other people also feeling it. So we started Agastu in 2021, but did absolutely nothing for a year and a half,” she says.

And the reason for that is that she was also diagnosed with cyclical depression. “I had a depressive episode in July 2022, and I found out about this. Cyclical means every few months, there is a big dip for me. Usually the dip lasts two weeks for me, then I do something which help me does something and so on. I get back to regular stuff. This one lasted for months. I go around championing everyone’s mental health, but have severe amount of stigma with my own. I was upset with myself. It took me long to get out of this one, and I finally joined Agastu in December,” Khan tells us.

She maintains that her family has been supportive from day one, understand what she needs from them. Khan’s go to person mostly is her fiance Nupur Shikhare. “Even though my family has been very supportive, they didn’t necessarily know how to support me. I needed to articulate it for them. It took efforts from my end their end, to develop communication. It is really difficult to see someone you love, struggle, go through the pain. You start freaking out, you want their problem to be fixed right now, and then you wonder did you do enough. Thus the family goes into their own spiral, as they believe they were not helpful for their person struggling,” she explains.