Deepika Padukone added another feather in her cap as she was honored with the prestigious Annual Crystal Award at World Economic Forum (WEF) 2020 in Davos, Switzerland.
She received the award for her leadership in raising mental health awareness – which she did by going public a few years back with her own experience with anxiety and depression. What makes this award even more special is the fact that Deepika is the first Indian actress, who has received such an honor at Davos summit.
While receiving the award, Deepika Padukone gave a heart-touching speech. In her speech, she mentioned her own struggle as she battled with depression and anxiety.
She began her impactful speech with the hard-hitting statistics about mental health that reflects the sad reality of today’s world:
“In the time it has taken me to accept this award, the world has lost one more person to suicide. That person may have been a father, a mother, a son or daughter, a brother or sister, a friend, a family member or a colleague. Every 40 seconds one person dies by suicide somewhere in the world.”
She also listed how there is also an economic effect of anxiety and depression on the global economy, estimating it to be at 1 trillion dollars. Talking further about her personal experience with mental health, she mentioned:
“My love and hate relationship with this has taught me a lot and I want to tell everyone suffering from this that you are not alone,”
Delving into why she started ‘The Live, Love, Laugh Foundation’, she shared:
“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,”
As #wef20 gets underway, @deepikapadukone stresses the importance of addressing mental health issues when building a more sustainable and inclusive world.@TLLLFoundation
Find out more: https://t.co/yja3lFKDLN #healthyfutures pic.twitter.com/7p0U3AoDpR
— World Economic Forum (@wef) January 20, 2020
At IFORHER, we are proud of Deepika Padukone for breaking the stigma attached with mental health. She not only gathered the courage to share her struggle with depression and anxiety with the masses but also established a foundation to help those who are fighting against the mental illness.