Didn’t Know Why I Was Crying: Karan Johar On His Mental Health Struggles

MUMBAI (ANI) – Karan Johar, the host of Koffee with Karan Season 8, opened up about his own mental health struggles. The filmmaker revealed that he experienced a serious depressive episode in April, during the unveiling of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre.

Karan Johar’s iconic chat program Koffee with Karan returned for its eighth season on October 26 at midnight. The season opened with the presence of power couple Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone as guests.

Deepika was asked about her experience with depression, which prompted Karan to share his own issues.

Karan began the segment by recalling sitting in a helicopter with Deepika and Farhan Akhtar on their way back from Shah Rukh Khan’s birthday party in Alibaug in 2017.

He spent the entire ride watching Deepika cry and break down in front of him. “I recall holding her hand all the way through. “She just cried, and I looked at her and thought, ‘I don’t even know how this feels… until it happened to me.”

Karan continued, “I think there were three tough years of the pandemic and there was trolling, and I didn’t realize that I was trying to be tough and resilient and brush things under the carpet.”

He also recalled another incident from NMACC where he felt low. He said, “The legitimate attack I had was at the NMACC launch and Varun Dhawan was gazing at me. I didn’t even notice I was sweating. Varun took my hand and asked, ‘Are you okay?'”

He concluded, “I took off my long and ostentatious jacket and left in half an hour.” I just went to bed and cried. “I just cried and didn’t know why. I consulted his psychologist, who prescribed medication.”