We have been constantly influenced by the jaw-dropping attires of celebrities, their hairstyles or particular clothing style have been replicated by fans and common folks alike since generations. This is just our way of relating to celebrities or is it because it is trendy? Probably the latter. And why are they considered as trendsetters? Well, maybe because we consider them as superior beings, don’t we? Constantly scrolling down their Instagrams or watching their interviews on repeat. Celebs gain a huge following, their each and every act is magnified, criticised and loved alike. Every time celebrities spoke about their challenges, we felt a bit closer to them. Maybe they are not superhuman after all, maybe they are just like us.
Here are the few times when celebrities made us feel that perhaps, we are not alone.
1. Deepika Padukone opened up about her battle with depression:
“I woke up one morning just feeling empty you know like this pittish 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.”
No one in the industry had talked about mental illness openly before her and this interview drew a lot of attention towards mental health and a rising consensus towards working for a healthier mind. She also started a foundation, The Live Love Laugh Foundation in 2015 to help people open up and deal with mental illness.
2. Sara Ali Khan opened up about her teenage victory over PCOS:
PCOS is a lifestyle disorder which affects 1 out of every 5 Indian women. In fact, I personally am battling with the same. She narrated her ordeal of weighing 96 kgs during her college days on Koffee With Karan; Sonam Kapoor Ahuja has also mentioned her struggle with the disorder. Netizens showered all their love and admiration for her after this. If they can fight it, so can you!
You can see the video here.
3. Yo Yo Honey Singh recently shared his ordeal with bipolar disorder:
Irrespective of our music preferences, the rapper must be commended for speaking boldly of his bipolar disorder. Our society lives in a blurry idea about mental health. He was on a break for around a year and recently let his fans know about his struggle with the disorder.
“It was scary. One year had passed and I wasn’t responding to medicines, until a fourth doctor from Delhi treated me. At one point, I thought I would live in this darkness forever. I had cut myself off from everyone. I didn’t come out of my room, forget stepping out of the house. I had a beard and I didn’t get a haircut for months. For someone who has performed in front of a crowd of 20,000, I was scared of facing 4-5 people. That’s what bipolar disorder does to you.”
4. Anushka Sharma and her ongoing fight with anxiety:
In a response to a tweet, Anushka bravely spoke about the normalcy of anxiety and her constant endeavour to obtain a better version of herself.
“I have anxiety. And I’m treating my anxiety. I’m on medication for my anxiety. Why am I saying this? Because it’s a completely normal thing. It’s a biological problem. In my family there have been cases of depression. More and more people should talk openly about it. There is nothing shameful about it or something to hide. If you had a constant stomach pain, wouldn’t you go to the doctor? It’s that simple. I want to make this my mission, to take any shame out of this, to educate people about this.”
5. Ileana D’Cruz opened up about body dysmorphic disorder, anxiety and depression:
In an interview she said, “I have really emotional moments and it’s something I only realized recently. I’d wake up sometimes and I’d just cry, and I’m thinking of the most hopeless scenarios, and then I’m like ‘why am I thinking about that?’ There’s one voice in my head saying ‘you’re being stupid, you don’t have to be so upset about it, you have a great life’ and then the other part is like ‘no, you’ve got this not working for you, you’ve got that not working for you.’ So it’s just two little voices in my head fighting each other constantly, and it can be really bad.”
She has always been vocal about her body image and her constant struggle with meeting up demands of society. This is something that every person needs to hear, that you are strong as you are!
“And there’s no such thing as a perfect body type – they go on about how the hourglass is the perfect body type, then the next year it’ll be the athletic type. What are you going to do, change your body type every year? Just be happy, be healthy.”
Our favourites in Hollywood have also taken to the media to sensitise about their mental illness or biological disorders. I cannot emphasise enough on the importance of looking out for signs in people, listening to them, simply hearing someone cry out helps. I have not mentioned the names of many people here, people who are facing struggled of an equal capacity.
While I type this someone out there is silent yet screaming for help; all you need to do is open your eyes. We lost many cherished people in the past due to their never-ending battle with depression, themselves, society and life.
Celebrities are people, just like us.
All we need to do is, spread love and happiness. Support each other in tough times and for real, let’s be human!
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