I DON’T KNOW HOW I SURVIVED: SHAMA

The actor, who once struggled with bipolar disorder, focusses on good energy to avoid trolls

Actor Shama Sikander, who in 2016, had openly spoken about her struggle with bipolar disorder and how she had once even attempted suicide, says that combating the disorder was the toughest thing in her life. When the actor looks back, she wonders how she even overcame it.

However, the actor says that talking about the disorder “wasn’t that difficult” but surviving through the struggle was.

Shama says, “I have always been unashamed of my life and was not very afraid of sharing it with the world as well, to a great extent. I don’t even know how I survived! I still wonder how strong I must be to be able to survive (it)!”

Interestingly, the actor says that she was advised otherwise by the people around her. “Whatever I did not say earlier in my career is because a lot of people were stopping me to. But once you face death, you fear nothing. I was suddenly the most fearless that I have ever been and I could feel people and their pain more than ever,” she says.

Shama says that her aim is to help others who are going through the same struggles as she did: “I wanted to help and reach out to them (people) and tell them, ‘There is light after all that darkness, so do not worry. I came out and you can too’. That has become my purpose. And I am doing my best to raise the awareness in every way I possibly can”.

The 36-year-old actor rose to fame with the TV show Yeh Meri Life Hai in 2003. After fighting and overcoming her disorder, Shama made a bold comeback, after eight years, in 2016 with the web show Sexaholic. Soon after its release, she was slut-shamed and trolled on social media.

On getting objectified on social media, Shama says “avoiding” and “focus [ing] on the good energy” is her mantra.

“There is a lot of dirt in this world and on social media, it’s like there’s good and there’s bad... You have to accept the existence of both and until you don’t let it affect you, it is not yours. It just exists just like a lot of other things exist in the universe,” concludes the actor, who will next be seen in a series of seven short films that will talk about the problems that are pushing the new generation towards mental illnesses like depression or bipolar disorder.

PHOTO: VIRAL BHAYANI Shama Sikander will next be seen in a series of seven short films