Sidhartha Mallya praises Deepika Padukone, calls her ‘very inspiring’

Sidhartha Mallya has spoken about his ex-girlfriend Deepika Padukone and the work she has done in spreading awareness about mental health.

Actor Deepika Padukone has been called ‘very inspiring’ by her ex-boyfriend Sidhartha Mallya. Ahead of the launch of his memoir, If I'm Honest, Sidhartha spoke about his own struggle with mental health and appreciated the efforts of those such as Deepika in the field.

Sidhartha Mallya and Deepika Padukone used to date.

Deepika has been vocal about being diagnosed with depression in the past. She even started her Live Love Laugh foundation to spread awareness about it.

Speaking to a leading daily, Sidhartha said, “I think it’s amazing the work that she and everybody else do in India. There are just not enough people who talk about mental health. The fact that people like her use their platforms to promote mental health is very inspiring, and I think that the more people we can get to talk about mental health--whether it's writing books, celebs or just grassroots level or teachers talking about it in school to children or families talking about it--better for everyone."

He added that the two never spoke about their mental health struggles with each other when they were dating. “For me, my journey with mental health started in 2015-16. As I have said in the book, I was really unaware of a lot of the things that I was going through before then. So mental health was not really something that we talked about; it wasn't really a conversation I was having with anyone,” he said.

On a recent episode of Kaun Banega Crorepati, Deepika explained to host Amitabh Bachchan how she dealt with depression. “Sir, in 2014, I had depression. I subsequently set up a mental health organisation, through which we try to de-stigmatise mental illness and create awareness about mental health… I didn't feel like going to work, I didn't feel like meeting anybody. I didn't go out. I didn't feel like doing anything. Many times, and I don't know if I should say this, but I didn't feel like living anymore,” she said.

Deepika is married to Ranveer Singh. She will be seen next in the sports drama 83, a thriller directed by Shakun Batra, Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Pathan and Siddharth Anand's Fighter.