Ira Khan calls her depression 'partly genetic’, says she grew up believing you have to be sad for people to love you

Aamir Khan’s daughter Ira Khan, in her recent interview, revealed that her depression is 'partly genetic'. She also talked about how she grew up believing that you get love only when you are sad.

While speaking to ETimes, Ira, who is the daughter of Aamir Khan and his first wife Reena Dutta, said, “Depression is a little complicated. It is partly genetic, partly psychological, and social. In my case, it is partly genetic. There is a history of mental health issues in my family on my mom and dad’s side. My therapist said that one of the trigger points was my parents, who handled their divorce as well as they could at that point.”

 

 

 

 

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While talking about how it all started, she said, “While growing up, my mind decided that to be loved, I need to be a slightly broken person. I made this perception by watching a lot of movies. I remember being as young as 8 or 10 years old and telling myself to fake a smile to repress my feelings, so that I grew up being slightly broken, because I believed that only then people will love me. So, I systematically made sure that I turned out to be a depressed person.”

Ira often talks about her battle with depression and added that the separation of her parents (Aamir with Reena Dutta) didn't affect her too much, but she noticed major changes in her personality. For the unversed, Ira was diagnosed with clinical depression over five years ago. In a recent interview with Times of India, Ira revealed how the support she got from her father, and also revealed that her family has a history of mental health issues. 

To help people battling depression, Ira launched Agastu Foundation, aiming to support people dealing with mental health issues. Ira also asserted that Aamir and Reena are a part of the Advisory Board of the organisation. While recalling her battle with depression, Ira revealed what changes she noticed within herself. Ira said that she would cry for eight hours and would sleep for 10 hours. Ira also wanted to return to India from the Netherlands, where she was studying. Khan said, "My mom pointed out that I didn’t want to be alive so I would just sleep my day away so that I would have fewer hours to live in a day,” Ira also added that although her parents' amicable separation didn't affect her much, she continued to feel sad and couldn't figure out why. Ira further revealed, "I didn't tell anyone because they would be worried about me. This period was one-and-a-half years. Then I stopped eating food for four days."