Karan Johar opens up about his battle with clinical depression

“It was dark, deep and helpless time. There was nothing I could do about it," said the filmmaker

27 Sep, 2016

Last year, Deepika Padukone shared that she had struggled with clinical depression.

In a recent chat with Barkha Dutt on NDTV, director/producer Karan Johar revealed that he too, has been suffering from anxiety and depression and only realized that when he went to the doctor for what he thought was a heart attack.

Also read: Deepika Padukone to launch foundation for mental health awareness

According to the filmmaker, he was in a meeting a couple of years ago, when he felt like he was going to cardiac arrest – and immediately drove to a doctor, who told him what he was really having was an anxiety attack.

He then saw a psychologist, who revealed he’s suffering from depression.

He didn’t want to meet people and found excuses to leave the Mumbai: “It was dark, deep and helpless time. There was nothing I could do about it."

“I stopped feeling excitement and happiness. There was lack of sleep and I was always on the edge. I think I hadn’t dealt entirely with the loss of my father. There was also the fear that I won't be able to find my life partner. At 44, when you don’t have a life partner or kids, it's difficult to deal with.”

The Bombay Velvet actor shared some good news as he said he has stopped taking his medication three months ago and has come out of the experience stronger.