Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone on Tuesday attended the Time 100 gala in New York and she used the platform to promote equal pay and to talk about dealing with depression.
Padukone, who made her Hollywood debut with xXx: Return of Xander Cage, recently made it to the coveted 2018 TIME 100 list. On being asked about gaining confidence to ask for equal pay, Padukone said women should not feel the pressure to settle for less.
She told TIME: “You can feel a sense of — am I stepping over the line, do I deserve it? But if you believe you deserve it, then you do. For years, we’ve been made to feel we should be OK with settling for less, with sometimes a promise of getting something more later on. But I think you should get what you think you deserve. It’s OK to fight for it, and it’s OK to feel uncomfortable initially, because that’s just the way we’ve been made to feel for so long.”
The 32-year-old actress also spoke about dealing with depression and how she's managed to find a better understanding of life.
“February 15th, 2014, I remember waking up that morning with a strange pittish feeling in my stomach," she said. "I had no idea what I was feeling. Life all of a sudden just felt meaningless and there were days when I just wanted to give up. And a couple of weeks later I was diagnosed with clinical depression. Four years on I stand here in front of all of you with a slightly better understanding, I think, of life and my feelings and the person that I am.”
She ended her speech by raising a toast to every man, woman and child who's going through some sort of challenge every single day.
"And for the some of us I think who do think of giving up once in a while, I want you to know that we’re all in this together, and most importantly that there is hope, because in the words of Stephen Fry, 'We’ll be sunny one day,'” the actress said.
