Mental disorders are real and it can affect anyone regardless of their age and gender. However, our society still considers the subject of mental health as a ‘taboo’ and discourages those who come out and share their struggles, without realizing that it takes a lot of courage to open up about such a sensitive issue.
Standing up against the norm, these Pakistani celebrities used the power of the media and shared their psychological battles publicly to inspire millions of other people who are going through the same.
Momina Mustehsan
Momina Mustehsan has talked about mental health on various platforms. When model Anum Tanoli took her own life in 2018 after battling with depression, Momina along with other celebrities came out to support each other with the hashtag #BullyingIsNeverOkay.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnRMXYZljz5/
Apart from that, she has shared several videos in which she talked about her struggles in detail and also addressed trolls.
Babar Khan
In 2014, Babar Khan and wife Sana Khan got severely injured in a road accident. Babar survived that incident with serious injurious, but unfortunately, Sana lost her life.
For the first time in 2017, Babar opened up about his journey with depression after Sana’s death. He made his television appearance on Shahista Lodhi’s show and shared how he coped with the loss.
Babar mentioned that he isolated himself from the outside world and had been in a long fight with depression for years. He also tried to take his own life several times.
Thankfully, his life started to change for the better when he had his first daughter and began to realize the meaning of life.
The Hocane Sisters
Urwa and Mawra fell victim to criticism when their blatant statement on depression and mental disorder. According to them, junk food (and only junk food) causes depression, there’s no other reason.
Their insensitive remark got them both under fire but the damage was already done.
https://twitter.com/Affansaifullah1/status/1158739822158077952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1158739822158077952&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftribune.com.pk%2Fstory%2F2029922%2F4-urwa-mawra-think-depression-mental-health-issues-exist-just-food%2F
Soon after, both Arwa and Mawra talked about their struggles with depression on social media.
In a recent Instagram post, Mawra revealed that she has been battling with anxiety for more than a year now.
“It’s been over a year since I’ve been diagnosed with anxiety & I’m no longer embarrassed of it”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6-1-tGgE75/
Urwa, too, decided to openly share her experience despite the criticism.
“I decided to never announce it but I have suffered depression for a couple of years, the process of recovery is perpetual therefore I would NEVER ever be insensitive to its existence & causes. I find it hard to say more than this because of the extensive scrutiny on every word I’ll now utter but I will be brave.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0_cqW6F5KI/
Hira Mani
In 2018, Hira talked about her mental health on Sameena Peerzada’s show. She revealed that after getting into showbiz, she became materialistic. This further led to depression as she became more competitive and started to fret over Instagram likes or followers.
While talking about a past incident, Hira started tearing up and that’s when we realize that she had had a hard time dealing with it.
Hina Altaf
Hina Altaf, too talked about her story on Sameena Pirzada’s show. There were times when she was going through depression and sleeping disorders because the environment of her family was very disturbing.
Thankfully, she has overcome it after a long fight, but, it was a difficult journey.
Nouman Javaid
Nouman Javaid was once a very successful singer. However, things started to fall apart for him and he developed severe depression. He even tried to kill himself, and in an interview said,
“I was in depression for quite some time before finally attempting suicide. I was facing issues in life but I wish to make it clear that Fariha (his wife) was not the only reason behind my depression; there were a number of other things involved.”
Nouman also posted a status on his Facebook account before attempting suicide, saying “Mein Chala” (I am going).
This shows that celebrities too are humans and their struggles are real. There are times when they find it hard to cope with the demands of the industry, which not only put them under severe scrutiny, but also adds to the deterioration of their mental heath.
