Karan Johar says he had anxiety issues five years ago: ‘Wasn’t even telling people that I was in therapy’

Karan Johar recently talked about dealing with anxiety and being in therapy. During the last ‘award show’ episode of his Koffee With Karan Season 7, the filmmaker opened up about his mental health. Social media influencers and comedians Kusha Kapila, Niharika NM, Tanmay Bhat and Danish Sait turned jury members for the finale episode of the show. Also read: Karan Johar reveals why Taapsee Pannu hasn’t been invited to Koffee With Karan yet

In the episode, Karan was asked about how he deals with mean comments and online criticism about himself. The filmmaker revealed that he underwent therapy. He said, “I built some kind of thick skin over the years. Honestly, it doesn’t bother me the way people think it should bother me when I read stuff that is completely putrid, awful. They come down to even abusing my kids. Those are times when I feel like f***, just leave them out of it. I’m like, you can say whatever you want about me, my sexuality or about all the conspiracy theories they have that are really down and dirty. It really doesn’t bother me and it’s not like I have not been in therapy and I haven’t had issues in the past.”

Karan also talked about how his battle with anxiety helped him to evolve, “There was an anxiety issue that I combatted 5 years ago and that was when I really opened up. You know, when I spoke to my doctor and she was a psychologist and she said that you are actually brushing everything so deep within that you actually think that you are dealing with it and that you have thick skin but actually you are shoving it into a dark, deep area and that’s all going to pop up at some time. So, she said you shouldn’t. So, at least I started talking about this fact to people because I was not even telling people that I was in therapy and that I was going through an issue of anxiety for 3 or 4 years.”

Talking about overcoming his issues and healing, he also shared that he feels better now. “Post that phase when I weaned my medication off, that’s when I realised I am feeling much better now because I was speaking to my close ones about the fact that it had got to me in some way because I think every issue, whether it is anxiety or depression, it’s spiralling from somewhere, right? Like maybe, I am thinking it’s because of a broken heart but it is also because of ABC reason. So now I just talk about it much more and it sucks at times,” he concluded.

Karan Johar is all set to mark his directorial comeback with Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani. It stars Ranveer Singh with Alia Bhatt. Veteran stars Jaya Bachchan, Dharmendra and Shaban Azmi are also a part of the film, which will release next year.