10 celebrities who faced mental health challenges and how they overcame them

At the peak of her career, Deepika Padukone shocked the nation by revealing her battle with clinical depression. Despite outward success, she experienced intense emptiness, anxiety and hopelessness.

"It was the most painful thing I have gone through—not just for me, but also for my caregivers. Every day, it takes work to make sure that I don't have a relapse and slip into it again. But maybe because I have healed, I am now able to say that I'm grateful for the experience because it made me a better person. I learnt a lot from it and it gave me the ability to impact the lives of millions of other people. It allowed me to find my true calling," she told Vogue in an old interview.

With therapy, medication, and support, she emerged stronger and founded The Live Love Laugh Foundation to help others seek help.

Today, she’s not just a superstar, but a powerful mental health advocate who speaks at global platforms. Her voice continues to open doors for empathy and action.

var _mfq = window._mfq || []; _mfq.push(["setVariable", "toi_titan", window.location.href]);

!(function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) { function loadFBEvents(isFBCampaignActive) { if (!isFBCampaignActive) { return; } (function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) { if (f.fbq) return; n = f.fbq = function() { n.callMethod ? n.callMethod(...arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments); }; if (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n; n.push = n; n.loaded = !0; n.version = '2.0'; n.queue = []; t = b.createElement(e); t.async = !0; t.defer = !0; t.src = v; s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s); })(f, b, e, 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js', n, t, s); fbq('init', '593671331875494'); fbq('track', 'PageView'); };

function loadSurvicateJs(allowedSurvicateSections = []){ const section = window.location.pathname.split('/')[1] const isHomePageAllowed = window.location.pathname === '/' && allowedSurvicateSections.includes('homepage') const ifAllowedOnAllPages = allowedSurvicateSections && allowedSurvicateSections.includes('all');

if(allowedSurvicateSections.includes(section) || isHomePageAllowed || ifAllowedOnAllPages){ (function(w) {

function setAttributes() { var prime_user_status = window.isPrime ? 'paid' : 'free' ; var geoLocation = window?.geoinfo?.CountryCode ? window?.geoinfo?.CountryCode : 'IN' ; w._sva.setVisitorTraits({ toi_user_subscription_status : prime_user_status, toi_user_geolocation : geoLocation }); }

if (w._sva && w._sva.setVisitorTraits) { setAttributes(); } else { w.addEventListener("SurvicateReady", setAttributes); }

var s = document.createElement('script'); s.src="https://survey.survicate.com/workspaces/0be6ae9845d14a7c8ff08a7a00bd9b21/web_surveys.js"; s.async = true; var e = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; e.parentNode.insertBefore(s, e); })(window); }

} window.TimesApps = window.TimesApps || {}; var TimesApps = window.TimesApps; TimesApps.toiPlusEvents = function(config) { var isConfigAvailable = "toiplus_site_settings" in f && "isFBCampaignActive" in f.toiplus_site_settings && "isGoogleCampaignActive" in f.toiplus_site_settings; var isPrimeUser = window.isPrime; var isPrimeUserLayout = window.isPrimeUserLayout; if (isConfigAvailable && !isPrimeUser) { loadGtagEvents(f.toiplus_site_settings.isGoogleCampaignActive); loadFBEvents(f.toiplus_site_settings.isFBCampaignActive); loadSurvicateJs(f.toiplus_site_settings.allowedSurvicateSections); } else { var JarvisUrl="https://jarvis.indiatimes.com/v1/feeds/toi_plus/site_settings/643526e21443833f0c454615?db_env=published"; window.getFromClient(JarvisUrl, function(config){ if (config) { const allowedSectionSuricate = (isPrimeUserLayout) ? config?.allowedSurvicatePrimeSections : config?.allowedSurvicateSections loadGtagEvents(config?.isGoogleCampaignActive); loadFBEvents(config?.isFBCampaignActive); loadSurvicateJs(allowedSectionSuricate); } }) } }; })( window, document, 'script', ); ‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’