Deepika Padukone’s chat with WHO chief on mental health shelved due to ‘highly unavoidable circumstances’

Deepika Padukone’s discussion with WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on mental health has been postponed indefinitely.

Staying cooped up at home due to the coronavirus pandemic is taking a toll on people’s mental health. On April 23, Deepika Padukone was scheduled to have an interactive session with World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on how to look after mental health during the lockdown, but it has now been indefinitely postponed.

Deepika Padukone announced that her discussion on mental health has been indefinitely postponed.

While Deepika did not reveal the exact reason why the session was no longer taking place on Thursday, she said that it was due to “unforeseen and highly unavoidable circumstances”.

In a note shared on her Instagram stories, Deepika wrote, “Hello everyone, I hope all of you are safe and staying indoors! I regret to inform you that due to unforeseen and highly unavoidable circumstances, the conversation ‘Prioritizing mental health during the pandemic and beyond’ between Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO and I, scheduled for 23rd April, 2020 has been put on hold until further notice.”

“Having said that, mental health is a very real and valid aspect of this pandemic; one that I hope we prioritize and nurture through these unusual times and beyond. Much love, Deepika,” she added in her note.

Deepika Padukone’s interaction with the WHO Director-General has been put on hold until further notice.

Deepika has been vocal about mental health issues and has talked at length about her own battle with depression in 2014. She also started the Live, Love, Laugh Foundation in 2015 to create awareness and reduce the stigma surrounding mental health issues.

Earlier this year, Deepika said in an interview that her depression “spiralled” while shooting for Meghna Gulzar’s Chhapaak, in which she played an acid attack survivor. She said that the film took a toll on her emotionally.

“I needed to have my counsellor on the sets of the movie with me. It came out of my nowhere and I was also caught off-guard. I started feeling it coming on and I thought maybe I am just tired or it is the long hours. But then it got really bad and I started feeling claustrophobic. It was very tough for me emotionally,” she said.

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