New Delhi:
Mental illnesses affect around one in four people in any given year and Bollywood celebrities are coming forward to walk the talk about anxiety, depression they have faced through their career. After Deepika Padukone, Shah Rukh coming forward to talk about their mental illness, dancing diva Lauren Gottlieb recently revealed she has been missing in action after she went on a downward spiral of mental health issues
In an interview with Mumbai Mirror,Lauren said “On the social media I continued to present a happy-go-lucky face, but deep down, I was sad and unhappy, seeking solace in alcohol, prescription drugs or anything that could make me happy,” she said.
The intense competition outside and the felling of coming back to an empty home she revealed got to her. She said that she would cry throughout the flight from the US to India but “shut off” her emotions the minute she touched down here.
Having been lied by friends who did not support her in Bollywood took a toll on Lauren. “I am honest, but I was constantly being lied to. Then, there was the weight of expectations. I was being touted as India’s best dancer and wasn’t allowed to fail,” she said.
Talking about her stint with her first director Remo D-Souza for ABCD 2, she revealed that she was approached to play the leading lady opposite Varun Dhawan, but she decided to take on the supporting part of Olive, the American-Indian dancer. “I was told by the director that I had messed up with my choice of role. I was told different stories by different people,”
The actress then claimed that she was shown a cold shoulder by the filmmakers during promotions, “I was sidelined completely, cut out of promotions, even some of my portions were edited out of the film. They were the six worst months of my life, and that included my stint as judge in the celebrity TV dance reality show, Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa,” she said.
Remo, who launched Lauren in Bollywood, was of little help. “We had a distant relationship. There were a few people in India I wanted to call family, but I didn’t find any support from them. Maybe if I had been more open, they might have been there for me,” she said.
Now, Lauren has finally come out of the dark place in her life, and is looking forward to return to work.
She was a contestant on the third season of the reality dance competition So You Think You Can Dance and played the lead role in the 2013 Indian dance film ABCD: Any Body Can Dance. She was the runner up in the sixth season of popular Indian television dance show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa with choreographer and partner Punit Pathak in 2013. Two years later, she also judged the eighth season the show.
