Aamir Khan's daughter Ira Khan has been actively trying to de-stigmatise mental health by sharing a series of videos on her Instagram handle. On World Mental Health Day (October 10) this year, Ira Khan shared a video, in which she opened up about her mental health battle and revealed that she has been clinically depressed for more than four years now. In her latest video, Ira talks about more than just mental health. She stated that she was subjected to insensitive questions about her privilege. Ira talked why she feels depressed, about her parents' divorce and her "privilege."
Sharing her post, Ira Khan wrote in her caption: "I never spoke to anyone about anything because I assumed that my privilege meant I should handle my stuff on my own, or if there was something bigger, it would make people need a better answer than 'I don't know.' It made me feel like I needed a better answer and until I had that answer, my feelings weren't something I should bother anyone else with. No problem was big enough to ponder too long about."
Ira addressed all the privileges she got by being superstar Aamir Khan's daughter and still getting diagnosed with depression. She added, "What would anyone do? I had everything. What would anyone say? I had said it all. I still think there's a small part of me that thinks I'm making all this up, that I have nothing to feel bad about, that I'm not trying hard enough, that maybe I'm over reacting. Old habits die hard. It takes me feeling my worst to make myself believe that it's bad enough to take seriously and no matter how many things I have, how nice to me people are because of my dad, how nice to me people are because they love and care about me." Ira asked clear and reasonable questions: "If I feel a certain way, a certain not nice way then how much can rationally trying to explain these things to myself do? Shouldn't I instead get up and try and fix things? And if I can't do that for myself? Shouldn't I ask for help? "
Ira also pointed out that contrary to what many might believe, her parents' (Aamir Khan and his ex-wife Reena Dutta) divorce can't be attributed as a reason to her depression and she explained how. "When I was small, my parents got divorced. But that didn't seem like something that would traumatise me because my parents' divorce was amicable. They are friends, the whole family is still friends. We are not a broken family by any means." She added, "My parents were very good about being parents to Junaid and me, even after divorce and when people would say 'Oh I am so sorry to hear about your parents' divorce, I would be like 'What are you talking about? It is not a bad thing. Another privilege I didn't realise. It could be something that could scar you. It didn't scar me. I don't remember most of it but I didn't feel like my parents' divorce is something that could bother me. So that can't be the reason why I am feeling so sad."
See Ira Khan's post here:
Ira is the younger of Aamir Khan's two children with his first wife Reena Dutta. Ira has studied music, while her brother Junaid often assists his father in filmmaking. Ira made her directorial debut with a theatrical adaptation of Euripides' Medea, which starred Hazel Keech in the titular role. Aamir Khan is now married to filmmaker Kiran Rao and the couple are parents to a son named Azad.