Priyanka Chopra Speaks About Overcoming Depression After Father's Passing

Priyanka Chopra Depression: Actor Priyanka Chopra spoke about how she overcame a period of depression after the death of her father, Ashok.

In 2013, her father passed away at the age of 63, following a lengthy battle with cancer. Chopra admitted that therapy did not work for her at that time and that she had to force herself to ‘step into the light’.

Priyanka also revealed that her priorities shifted since entering her 30s and insisted on the importance of balance in her marriage to singer and actor Nick Jonas. While speaking to Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place Podcast, Chopra said that, “I tried therapy, it didn't work for me at that point. I didn't think medication was an option. I didn't want to be stuck, I don't know how it started, I just remember feeling sorry for myself.”

The actor said that she ‘ran away’ from her father’s death by accepting the starring role in the 2014 film Mary Kom just months after he passed away. In Chopra’s recently released memoir Unfinished, she mentioned that she was diagnosed with depression soon after her father’s death, and her period of depression lasted for five years. She stated that she did not want to feel her grief, so she instead walled herself off emotionally.

Chopra said that, “I never really examined or dealt with my grief. Instead, I tried to power through. I was doing my best to be resilient, but the fact is that I was burying my grief rather than coming to terms with it."