Karan Johar opens up about battling anxiety, being on medication for years: ‘I didn’t tell people I was in therapy’
Karan Johar, on the finale episode of Koffee With Karan season 7, has opened up about fighting anxiety for five year a few years ago. The filmmaker shared his journey of overcoming anxiety with social media influencers and comedians Tanmay Bhatt, Kusha Kapila, Danish Sait and Niharika NM, who were the special guests of the finale.
When Kusha asked Karan how he deals with mean comments and the hate he receives online, he opened up about dealing with anxiety. He said, “I’ve built some kind of a thick skin over the years. Honestly, it doesn’t bother me the way people think it should bother me. I read stuff that is completely putrid and awful. They come down to even abusing my kids (Roohi and Yash). Those are the times when I feel like just leave them out of it. I’m like, you can say whatever you want about me, my sexuality or about all the conspiracy theories they have that are really down and dirty. It really doesn’t bother me and it is not like I have not been in therapy and I haven’t had issues in the past.”
Karan then spoke about how going into therapy has helped him immensely. He said, “There was an anxiety issue that I combated five years ago and that was when I really opened up. You know, when I spoke to my doctor and she is a psycholog, she said that you’re actually brushing everything so deep within that you actually think that you’re dealing with it and you have a thick skin. But actually, you are shoving it into a deep dark area and that is all going to pop up at some time. So, she said you shouldn’t. So, at least I started talking about this fact to people because I was not even telling people that I was in therapy and that I was going through an issue of anxiety for three-four years.”
The filmmaker then opened how he is now feeling better after he sought help. He said, “Post that phase when I weaned my medication off, that is when I realised that I am feeling much better now because I was speaking to my close ones about the fact. Every issue, whether it is anxiety or depression, it is spiralling from somewhere, right? Like maybe, I am thinking it is because of a broken heart but it is also because of A, B, C reasons. So, now I just talk about it much more and it sucks at times.”
On the work front, Karan is directing Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani with Alia Bhatt and Ranveer Singh, the romantic comedy also stars Dharmendra, Jaya Bachchan and Shabana Azmi.
