Is Aishwarya Rai Bachchan going through midlife depression?

New Delhi: A few months back when Aishwarya Rai Bachchan attended “The Archies Event” a user on X commented that “Aishwarya Rai is in severe depression because of her separation from the flop and unsuccessful husband Abhishek Bachchan”

The user further commented that she was consuming drugs. The tweet went viral and the user named Umair received severe backlash from social media users for his insensitive comment.

Look at the Face of #AishwaryaRaiBachchan. She is in severe depression because of separation with her Flop & Unsuccessful husband #AbhishekBachchan. She is taking drugs. She is also ignoring her Husband at #TheArchies Premiere. She just came to support the film with FAKE FAMILY. pic.twitter.com/XyiKpfKLSI

— Umair Sandhu (@UmairSandu) December 5, 2023

However, if you ask a psychologist, Aishwarya Rai’s depression theory cannot be completely overruled as it’s very common for women in their late forties and fifties to experience depression. Most studies agree that the risk of depression increases for women during menopausal transition.So what is the root cause of this midlife depression? Not sure, say authors Andrew Oswald of Warwick University and David Blanchflower of Dartmouth University. Both have done extensive research on depression.

According to them “something happens deep inside humans to bring us down, rather than shattering events such as divorce and job loss.” Oswald further states “Some people suffer more than others. It happens to men and women, to single and married people, to the rich and to those with or without children.” Few other studies suggest that women have double the rate of depression between 40-50 years because they are more sensitive to hormonal shift that happen during perimenopause.

When depression hits, it becomes hard for a person to think, work, sleep, eat, and enjoy life. Probably something similar is happening with Aishwarya..  One can not miss noticing signs of probable depression in her. She is hardly seen at events, parties, or gatherings. Probably she does not like to meet people and prefers to stay in her own space. She appears only when it becomes absolutely necessary,  like Aaradhya’s parents’ day or Agastya Nanda’s debut movie screening.

Probably online trolling due to her weight gain and facelift surgery has also affected her. Who must have ever thought that the most beautiful woman in the world would ever undergo facelift surgery? Who must have thought that ethereal beauty Aishwarya Rai would someday become so conscious that she would use her hair to hide the heaviness of her face?

While her contemporaries like Kareena Kapoor, and Preity Zinta are quite active on social media, Aishwarya posts once in a blue moon. Most of the time absence from social media means that an actor is too busy with work while in the case of Aishwarya it is not so. Last heard she has not taken up any big project post-PS 1 and 2. However, the good news is that most people emerge from this low ebb in their 50ties. Perhaps realizing that such feelings are completely normal in midlife might help individuals to come out of this phase better.

We really wish that Aishwarya stops downplaying her potential and gets back to doing some fantastic work.