Deepika Padukone is one of India’s most successful actresses and models, celebrated for her work in Bollywood, her global influence, and her advocacy for mental health awareness. A former national-level badminton player, she transitioned into cinema and rose to prominence with blockbuster films such as Om Shanti Om, Padmaavat, and Fighter. She also made her Hollywood debut in xXx: Return of Xander Cage. Among the highest-paid celebrities in the country, she is widely regarded as a fashion icon and a powerful voice for mental health awareness, admired for her authenticity and bold career choices.
She once said, “People talk about physical fitness, but mental health is equally important. I see people suffering, and their families feel a sense of shame about it, which doesn’t help. One needs support and understanding. I am now working on an initiative to create awareness about anxiety and depression and help people.”
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Deepika Padukone has been open about her mental health challenges. In a 2025 interview with Brut India, she said, “Therapy and counselling are generally good for us, to understand ourselves better and to understand other people better. I think a little self-assessment is important, but a little therapy will do no harm.”
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She continued, “I advocate therapy even for people who have not experienced mental illness. I think therapy and counselling help us understand our thoughts, feelings, and emotions.”
Deepika also shared the first questions her doctor usually asks: “How is your nutrition? How is your sleep? How is your hydration? Are you exercising? Are you getting enough sunlight?”
According to news agency ANI, Deepika revealed that she had even “felt suicidal at times.” Expressing gratitude to her mother, Ujjala Padukone, she said, “I give all the credit to my mother for recognising the signs and symptoms, because it just happened out of the blue.”
Deepika’s Struggle Despite Career Success
She explained that despite being at a career high, she struggled deeply. “I was on a career high, everything was going well, so there was no reason or no apparent reason why I should have 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,” ANI reported.
Recalling her experience, she shared that she often put on a brave front in front of her parents, who live in Bengaluru. “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,” she said. However, one day, as her parents were leaving for Bengaluru, she broke down.
Deepika, who publicly spoke about her depression in 2015, runs the Live Love Laugh Foundation, an organisation dedicated to supporting people struggling with mental health issues.
(Discussions on suicides can be triggering for some. But suicides are preventable. If you are looking for help, some suicide prevention helpline numbers in India are 011-40769002 from Sanjivini (Delhi-based, 10 am – 5.30 pm) and 044-24640050 from Sneha Foundation (Chennai-based, 8 am – 10 pm), +91 9999666555 from Vandrevala Foundation (Mumbai-based, 24×7).)
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