"I used to just feel very low."
Among the new batch of Bollywood actors, Ananya Panday has proven herself to be one of the most promising performers.
Ananya debuted in Student of the Year 2 (2019) and has since appeared in several appreciated movies.
However, the actress faced trolling and online abuse in the early days of her career.
This led Ananya to consider quitting her career. She ultimately sought therapy, which helped her deal with this difficult time.
Recalling the phase, Ananya Panday said: “When I started out, there were days I didn’t want to go on set.
“It was the very first year of my career when the college thing and the whole round table thing happened.”
Ananya was previously accused of lying about going to a college in the US.
She continued: “I have done therapy in the past. I couldn’t articulate my emotions. I used to just feel very low.
“Sometimes I feel with mental health and social media is that you read something at the moment and you may not realise that it’s affecting you because I am fine right now.
“I will read a comment, and I will ignore it, but weeks later, it could still be there in your subconscious mind, and things like that really pile up.
“So I think with therapy I was able to just consolidate my feelings and articulate my thoughts a little better.”
Ananya Panday went on to reveal that other members of her family also turning to therapy helped her.
She explained: “There is a stigma definitely but I think it’s gotten a lot better.
“I feel like a lot of people are talking about it now.
“Everywhere I go, there’s always a question about mental health as an actor. My mother has also done therapy.
“My grandmother used to do therapy. My younger sister goes to therapy.
“So, in my family, it’s been very normalised to seek help. I have not kept it a secret. It has helped me a lot.
“It’s just about ranting and getting your feelings out.”
Articulating how her body image issues intertwined with Instagram, Ananya said:
“Instagram does that to you. Nobody posts their failures on Instagram.
“You are constantly comparing yourself with someone who you think has a better life or is constantly travelling or looking happy.
I also obviously had that. Self-love doesn’t happen overnight. I have days when I don’t feel confident and beautiful.
“But, you have to just go through that phase. You need to go with it and not be hard on yourself.
“As an actor, the most I can do is talk and let people know that I, too, have such days.”
“I was 18 when I started acting, and I didn’t even know the concept of a diet or training or working out.
“At that time, I went through a lot of body image issues. I first felt it when I saw myself on camera.
“There was a time when I even compared myself to Tara [Sutaria] and felt, ‘Why don’t I have a body like her?'”
Meanwhile, on the work front, Ananya Panday was last seen in the Netflix film Ctrl (2024).
She will next be seen in Shankara.
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