Last week Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone publicly admitted to suffering from depression, anxiety, and panic attacks throughout the past year.

With two of the highest grossing Bollywood films of all time under her belt, a first-ever world tour completed, countless awards and brand endorsements gained, and rumours of a relationship with one ofBollywood’s most handsome and down to earth men – on the face of it, Bollywood’s most influential female celebrity appears to have it all.

Indeed, as Deepika’s op-ed on her “struggle to get out of bed”, feeling a “roller coaster of emotions”, and the dire need for better understanding mental health in South Asia went viral, while most admired her courage to speak out on a heavily stigmatised topic, silent whispering continued to ask,

“How can you be depressed? Why are you anxious? You have it all.”

As someone who has experienced the twin evils of anxiety and panic attacks at various stages of my life, and a very brief period of depression following the death of a close friend, Deepika’s bold admission that “this is probably one of the deadliest mental disorders [and that] nothing, including life, makes sense to people suffering from it” broke the last remaining personal barrier for me.

For as long as I can remember, I have been asked the same thing Deepika admits to being asked throughout last year as she climbed all the ladders of success: