Actor Rhea Chakraborty, at a conclave, said that people are not ready to accept that one could be depressed despite being rich and famous, referring to her late partner, actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who died by suicide in June 2020.
“The truth is that mental health is not understood in this country at all. We are taking strides and the youth is now talking about it and India is moving forward in understanding mental health,” said Chakraborty, who hasn't given many interviews since Singh's death.
She added that it is because people are conditioned to work towards fame and money and when people see someone who has both and is depressed, they question “what am I working towards?" That’s what doesn’t sit well with people.” She also said that society is changing slowly.
She added that she was aware of the late actor's condition. “I could never know the truth of what took him to do what he did because I don’t live in his mind, contrary to popular belief. But I do know the truth about him being mentally ill, I do know the truth about what he was going through,” she added.
Chakraborty was blamed for Sushant’s death, which she gauged as patriarchal conditioning. “They said that ever since she came into his life, he changed. He had his own identity before me,” she said. At the conclave, the actor also said that she misses Sushant Singh Rajput very much and that life after his death has changed a lot.
Chakraborty, who began her career as a video jockey said, "Moving on is one thing that makes us human. It makes us survive, it helps us keep going no matter what happens in our lives, be it tragedy, pandemic, and in my case, jail.” “It has been hard to live a normal life again, like going for a walk, or a salon for a haircut or going for dinner with your parents. I was going through a person's loss in my life... I wasn't allowed time to grieve. All of that has come and those small victories are very exciting to me. I am grateful I am able to lead a normal life again now."
On her time in jail, the actor said, “My biggest learning moment was when I saw people in jail grab on to any iota of happiness that they found. If they find happiness for two minutes, they will laugh the loudest and they will be the happiest. It's so rare that they fully snatch it." For now, she is one of the judges on MTV Roadies. She has said that people are scared to put their money in a film she is a part of.
