I'm an actor, producer and philanthropist.

I'll be opening up my little black book

and bringing you into my world.

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So first stop, we're gonna talk about mental health

because that is a topic that's very, very close to my heart

and something that I've been working on

very, very actively in that last couple of years.

And that's because I experienced

anxiety and depression in 2014.

So I've seen it up close and personal

and I probably define it as the worst experience of my life.

I think a huge part of my little black book

is my mother, so we live in different cities,

so they visit me every now and then.

And on one such visit, I remember it was time

for her to pack her bags and leave

and she was, you know, ready to go to the airport.

And I was sitting in her room watching her,

just sort of, packing and putting her things together

when I suddenly broke down.

And to her it seemed strange because, you know,

we sort of go through this saying goodbye to each other

every few months, pretty often.

And of course she asked me the routine questions

about, you know, is everything okay at work?

Was it a relationship issue?

I feel like as a mother she needed to ask me those questions

but I think somewhere deep down inside she knew

that it wasn't the usual sort of crying, it was different.

Whenever I've not been okay, I always feel like

I want to keep that away from my parents

because they live away from me and I feel like they'd worry.

So I hadn't told them about feeling this way for a while

and then she caught this moment.

But today when I look back, I'm so grateful for that moment

because she was the one who called it

and she immediately realized

that I needed professional help.

And that's when Anna Chandy and Dr. Shyam,

the reason I am able to run this foundation today

is because of their passion and enthusiasm

and both are a very integral part of my life

and my little black book.

Yeah, I think waking up was tough

because I didn't want to face a day.

When the doctor said that this is clinical depression,

I felt like I already started feeling much better

versus the times when I didn't know

what was happening to me.

I remember those moments being a struggle, not knowing.

2014, post the experience, and post coming

out with my experience with the depression,

I also felt like I didn't want to stop there,

I felt like I wanted to give back

and I wanted to help people.

And so, for me, coming out and speaking out openly

was to sort of help people understand

what depression is because you don't really see

very obvious physical signs or symptoms,

unlike certain other illnesses.

And I felt like by coming out and sharing

my experience with the world, if I could help

even one life, I felt like the purpose would be served.

That's when we set up the Live, Love, Laugh foundation.

It's been more than three years

since we set up the foundation.

I feel every single day for everything

that I have in my life, if there's one thing

that feels the most rewarding or the one thing

that I'm most grateful for is the fact

that I've been able to speak out.

But through the foundation, also,

be positively able to impact peoples lives.

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I'm not ashamed.

I think if there's one thing that anxiety and depression

has taught me is self awareness.

And while I'd like to believe that I've always been

pretty aware of my feelings and emotions, I feel like

this experience sort of just amplified that for me.

I often feel like, and women especially,

feel like when they take care of themselves

or take time out for themselves,

it often comes with an element of guilt.

And I feel like that's the one thing I stopped doing.

I feel like if I want to rest, if I want a massage,

if I want to sleep, I've started enjoying

those moments without the guilt.

And I think self care is the one thing that has really

helped me on this journey, you know, to recovery.

You know, it works differently for different people

so I think it's really about listening to yourself

and finding your own inner balance.

(soft calming music)