EXCLUSIVE: Shruti Haasan opens up about the ‘stigma’ on mental health; says, “It’s not to say because people are judgmental but because they don’t understand the gravitas”

Shruti Haasan explained the importance of staying healthy mentally on World Mental Health’s Day.

By Soumya Anantharaman -

October 10, 2024 - 1:12 PM IST

On World Mental Health’s Day on October 10, Shruti Haasan, who has championed for many causes including women empowerment and women’s health, made a major statement about mental health and its importance. In an exclusive brief interaction, the actress clarified that the importance that is given to mental health is often overlooked and how one is able to understand ‘the gravity of situation’ only when them or their close ones are confronted with these challenges.

EXCLUSIVE: Shruti Haasan opens up about the ‘stigma’ on mental health; says, “It’s not to say because people are judgmental but because they don’t understand the gravitas”

Maintaining that the ‘stigma’ attached to such issues is not a challenge within the entertainment industry alone, Shruti Haasan told us, “I think not just in the entertainment industry, but across, you know, socially speaking, discussing mental health and accepting your vulnerabilities or acknowledging that you know you need help or that you're not okay about something is always looked at as with a bit of a stigma, and I'm it's not to say that it's because people are judgmental. I think it's because people don't necessarily understand the gravitas of how important mental health is in society”.

She added, “It's always someone else's problem, till it becomes your own problem or in your own family, and that's when people start making the effort to understand what it means.” Addressing about the importance of staying mentally fit in a hectic and competitive industry like the Indian entertainment where its all about perception, the actress insisted that she has never and would never want to fit herself in a box like that. “In the entertainment industry, I think it's such an image conscious industry where you know it is all about the perception that we put out there. And that's something that I've tried to stay away from the very beginning. And I think for me, my journey has always tried to be about being transparent,” Shruti explained.

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