Over the last couple of days the biggest turnaround in the Sushant Singh Rajput case has been regarding information about the actor's mental health. Here's what we have been hearing so far from his friends, family and the media at large.
Here's what we know - Ankita Lokhande who had dated Sushant for 6 years, in her first interview after the actor's death said, "Sushant was not the kind of guy who will get into depression" and "Sushant was not a depressed man".
Also, in a police statement Sushant's sister Priyanka Singh said that in 2013 Sushant had told his sisters that he was feeling low and even consulted a psychiatrist in Andheri. The latest news is his therapist Susan Walker in her statement to the Mumbai police said "His anxiety had increased a lot in 2013-14. When he was young, he had taken A***l medicine, twice every week to increase his concentration, as a treatment of ADHD."
What we don't know is, did Sushant share his mental health concerns with Ankita? If yes, why didn't Ankita talk about it? If no, then why not?
What we also know is that Sushant's family claimed that they were not aware of the actor's mental health condition. His sister Shweta tweeted claiming that Rhea drugged Sushant without his consent and then convinced him that he was not well, taking him to the psychiatrist. Sushant's father's lawyer Vikas Singh in an interview with The Quint clearly stated that on 8 June Rhea left the actor abruptly without informing the family of his mental health. In another interview to ANI, the lawyer said that the key point in the FIR made by his family is that Rhea never told the family about Sushant's mental health and that she didn't give the family his medical history.
However according to reports in the media what we do know is that, in a police statement given to the Mumbai police, Sushant's sisters have reportedly stated that Sushant did tell them about his mental state not once, not twice but thrice. First, in 2013, when he consulted a psychiatrist in Andheri. Second, in October 2019 and then again in November 2019 when he was taking treatment at Hinduja hospital.
According to recent reports in the media, Sushant's therapist Susan Walker in her statement to the Mumbai police has said that after her first session with Sushant, which was in Nov 2019 she came to a conclusion that his anxiety had increased since the last 10 days and it would not reduce even after taking medicines. Taking a scale of 1 to 10 for anxiety, his condition had reportedly reached 9.
What we know now is in a chat that is out in the media between Sushant and his sister Priyanka dated 8 June, where we see the sister advising Sushant on which medicine to take and even got him a prescription. The medicines prescribed were anti-depressants. All this apparently happened early morning around 4am on 8th June, the day Rhea left Sushant's house. And she reportedly left at 12-12.30pm.
However, what we don't know is why did Sushant's family claim not to know about his mental health and medication to the media?
Rhea in a recent interview said that when Sushant and she were in Paris for a holiday, Sushant did not step out of his hotel room for three days. After this statement, social media was flooded with pictures of Sushant enjoying himself in Disneyland in Paris.
What we know after questioning Rhea's lawyer is that the couple was in Paris for 5 to 6 days. Yes, he didn't step out for the first 3 days but the rest of the days they went out and they did spend one whole day they spent in Disneyland.
Rhea also spoke about Sushant telling her of being claustrophobic. She said in her interview that when they were leaving for Europe, Sushant said that he feels claustrophobic in a flight and even took a medicine for it. After this statement Ankita Lokhande posted a picture of Sushant in the cockpit of a private jet, questioning whether Sushant was really claustrophobic.
However, what we do know is that in a video interview from 2015 Sushant Singh admits to being claustrophobic.
What we don't know is what was the intensity of this claustrophobia or how it is triggered.
Sushant's father's lawyer Vikas Singh in a recent press conference said "Sushant Singh Rajput's mental health was fine till 2019. There could have been some 'chota mota' incident before.
What we don't know is whether Sushant's visit to a psychiatrist in 2013 was for a chota mota incident.
However the most ridiculous aspect of this whole affair is how the media has judged Sushant Singh Rajput's mental health condition just on the basis of pictures and videos. So I have one question for the said media. What do you think a depressed man looks like?
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