Actress Alia Bhatt's sister Shaheen has never shied way from talking about her struggle with depression. Last week, with the reported suicides of fashion designer Kate Spade and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, Shaheen once again gave mental health and lack of awareness a voice. In an article written for Vogue magazine, she revealed that she lived with depression on and off since the age of 12. She said she had been “suicidal on more than one occasion.”
The article read, “I've experienced the sheer terror of contemplating a life filled with unrelenting anguish, and I've been consumed by the terrifying thought of having but a single means of escape from a bleak, unbearable future.” Shaheen said Bourdain's death filled her eyes with tears. “I love Bourdain, I've been a fan of his ever since I read 'Kitchen Confidential'. I marvelled at his no-nonsense screen presence, his natural humour and his effortless ability to turn the foods he was eating into almost living, breathing characters. I love Bourdain, but that wasn't the only reason I was crying. I was crying because every time I hear of someone who was unable to go on living with the darkness within them, I'm reminded of how that could have just as easily been me,” Shaheen wrote.
She further encouraged people to start communicating as “as talking about depression is no longer an option, it's a matter of life and death.” She added, “Every day that we shy away from the subject, someone plunges further into their depressive hole, isolating themselves and believing they're freaks. Every minute that we continue to stay silent we lose one more person to the horrors of depression and suicide. Every second that we choose comfort over reality we fail another Anthony and another Kate.”
