- Deepika Padukone was conferred with WEF Crystal Award for spreading awareness about the importance of mental health
- ‘You are not alone, but most importantly that there is hope,’ Deepika said to people suffering from mental illness
Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone today received the Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Deepika was conferred with WEF Crystal Award for spreading awareness about the importance of mental health, which she did by going public with her own experience with depression. Speaking about what she learned from her personal experiences of mental problems, she said, “Mental illness has presented us all with a very tough challenge, but in my love-hate relationship with the illness has taught me much. To be patient for one, that you are not alone, but most importantly that there is hope.”
“For in the words of Martin Luther King, everything that is done in this world is done with hope,” she said.
“In the time it has taken me to accept this award, the world has lost one more person to suicide,” she said.
Film star Deepika Padukone is also registered as founder of Live Love Laugh Foundation, an NGO which aims to reduce the stigma, spread awareness and change the way people look at mental health. The foundation raises awareness about mental adolescent mental health disorders and organises training sessions, research and lecture series that feature some of the most known thinkers and achievers.
“Depression is a common yet serious illness. It is important to understand that anxiety and depression is like any other illness and treatable. It was experience with this illness that encouraged me to set up Live Love Laugh,” she said.
Over 100 Indian CEOs, several political leaders and select Bollywood stars including Deepika Padukone are at the Swiss ski resort town of Davos for the 50th anniversary of the WEF Annual Meeting to discuss what requires to make it a ‘cohesive and sustainable world’.
Story Credit: livemint.com
