From battling depression, giving back to back hits, navigating through Hollywood politics to coping with a new controversy every day - Deepika Padukone has truly been a force to reckon with. With almost 25 million followers on Instagram and a net worth of more than £8 million, Deepika is indeed one of the most influential female actors of the Hindi Film Industry.
With great power comes great responsibilty and DP surely understands that. She has always been at the fore front of any discussion related to mental health but like many other Indian actresses she too has been criticized for not speaking enough on the prevalence of sexism in Bollywood.
But in a recent interview with Evening Standard, Deepika, for the first time, admitted encountering her fair share of sexism during the initial phase of her career.
"There were lots of things I was advised [to do]. To get a boob job, do the beauty pageants. They felt it was the right way to be recognised or picked up by a Bollywood director or producer. It might be an easier way to achieve what you want to achieve. But I haven’t been that person; I’ve always followed my gut," she revealed.
When Deepika made her Bollywood debut opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Farah Khan's 'Om Shanti Om' everyone assumed that becoming an actor would have been her childhood dream but in reality she just wanted to 'move away from home' and perhaps explore her passion.
"For a large part of my life I was an athlete — I don’t think anyone thought I would become a model and then an actor. [But] I always knew that was what I’d end up doing. It was really weird. It just felt really familiar. I made the decision when I was 17 or 18. At that age you just want to pursue your dreams and move away from home. You think that it’s really cool. But I think the decision, the largeness of that decision — I only realise that now."
Deepika was at the peak of her career when the claws of depression clenched her. Recalling her battle with depression, Deepika said, "There was a lot happening (in 2014) - people thought professionally it was one of the best years of my life. I was on a career high but that's the thing about depression - there are no warning signs. It just comes and it has nothing to do with how much money you have or how successful you are... It can affect literally anyone."
Deepika said she recovered through "lifestyle changes and medication" and went on to set up the Live Love Laugh Foundation. "There are a lot of people who come and say that they contemplated committing suicide and after seeing (what) I've done, they understand what they were going through and their lives have changed," she said.
When asked if she ever contemplate suicide herself, she said, "When depression goes undetected, it makes you suicidal. I think I’ve been fortunate to have had it detected early on in my life so it didn’t get to that stage. But you can’t separate them from one another; it’s all in the same family."
