Deepika Padukone extends support to Jemimah Rodrigues after she opens up about battle with anxiety

Actress Deepika Padukone, who has been a strong advocate for mental health awareness, reacted to cricketer Jemimah Rodrigues’ recent revelation about battling anxiety.

The ‘Om Shanti Om’ actress, known for openly sharing her own struggles with depression in the past, praised Jemimah for her honesty and courage in speaking up, highlighting the importance of conversations around mental well-being in sports and beyond. Taking to her Instagram Stories, Deepika Padukone reshared a video of cricketer Jemimah Rodrigues, in which the athlete opened up about her struggle with anxiety ahead of the ICC Women’s World Cup tournaments.

Resharing her video, the actress wrote, “Thank you @ jemimahrodrigues for your vulnerability and for sharing your story..”

Speaking at a press conference post-match, Jemimah Rodrigues broke down in tears as she shared how her parents supported her during a difficult phase when she often felt numb due to constant anxiety. The cricketer shared, “I'll be very vulnerable here because I know if someone is watching this, they might be going through the same thing. And that's my whole purpose of saying it because nobody likes to talk about their weakness. I was going through a lot of anxiety at the starting of the tournament and it was a lot before few games also I used to call my mom and cry.”

“Cry the entire time, let it all out, because when you're going through anxiety, you just feel numb. You don't know what to do. You're trying to be yourself. And also in this time, my mom, my dad, they supported me a lot. And also, there was Arundhati who I think almost every day I've cried in front - almost every day I've cried in front of her. Later, I was joking, I said, you don't come in front of me, I'll start crying. But she checked on me every single day,” she added.

Jemimah was benched after the initial few matches of the tournament. Talking about the same, she mentioned, “I was dropped from the team. That really hit me. And, when you’re dropped, you have a lot of doubts because I always want to contribute to the team. But that day I couldn't do much sitting out. And then when you come back in, it's a lot more pressure with everything that was happening in the past month.”

“But sometimes all you need to do is just hang in there and things fall into place. So, I think, yeah, so I'm very grateful for the people who believed in me when I couldn't and were there for me and understood me because I couldn't do this on my own,” she added.

Notably, powered by Jemimah Rodrigues’ unbeaten 127, India achieved a record chase of 339 runs at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on October 30, defeating the defending champions by five wickets to secure a spot in Sunday’s final against South Africa.

Picture Courtesy: Instagram/ Deepika Padukone