I was physically unrecognisable after Covid: Deepika Padukone

Actor Deepika Padukone, who was diagnosed with Covid-19 in May of last year, spoke about how the disease affected her in a recent interview. Revealing that she suffered from a lack of mental clarity as well as changes to her appearance due to the medication she was prescribed, the actor called the illness and the two-month recovery period “very difficult”.

Speaking to the Film Companion, the Bajirao Mastani actor elaborated on the physical and mental effects of Covid she suffered from. “Life, after Covid, changed for me because physically, I was unrecognisable completely,” explained the actor. She added, “I think (it was due to) the medication I was given, the steroids that I was put on. So Covid in itself was weird, your body feels different, your mind feels different.”

Highlighting how she had to take time off from work to heal, Deepika continued, “I felt that when I had the illness it was still okay but after that, I needed to take two months off work because my mind wasn't working. The phase for me was very, very difficult.”

Deepika has been vocal about the mental health implications of the pandemic, previously taking to her Instagram to share a few mental health helplines that people can turn to during this difficult time. The actor captioned the post, “As millions of us (me and my family included) strive to stay afloat, let us not forget that our emotional well-being in this current crisis, is equally important! Remember; You are not alone. We are in this together. And most importantly, there is hope!”

The actor will be seen next in the upcoming film Gehraiyyan opposite Siddhant Chaturvedi. Deepika’s most recently acting credit, starring alongside husband Ranveer Singh, was the film ‘83. Speaking about it in an interview, the actor shared, “It was nice to work with Ranveer in a slightly more realistic setting,” she said, adding, “Not having to mouth such intense dialogues with the kind of language that we did on the past three films. It was refreshing. In fact, we had to remind ourselves that ‘this is the same actor that I’ve worked with’.”