Why Alia Bhatt Felt Relief After Her Diagnosis
In a Nutshell
Alia Bhatt sought a clinical diagnosis for ADHD and anxiety after experiencing physical symptoms like overheating in social settings and struggling with focus and memory, finding relief when the diagnosis validated her internal experiences rather than making her feel like she was fabricating issues. Motherhood has intensified both her love and worry while expanding her empathy and perspective, motivating her to create structures for managing ADHD so she doesn't forget important moments with her daughter. She credits her childhood friend group for their patience with her career demands, describes herself as highly receptive to others' energies which can be draining, and emphasizes embracing her "wonderfully weird" nature while advocating for mental health awareness.
These notes were generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.
Alia Bhatt describes how the interview came about through Instagram communication. She explains that she had become very comfortable only interacting with people she knows well - her team, family, friends, and loved ones. She rarely goes to parties and when she does, she typically just shows face briefly before leaving. She mentioned to a friend that she had forgotten what it is to have a conversation and ask people questions.
Alia reflects on how COVID isolated everyone into their own cocoons. She notes that life took over after 2022, which was a full year with many film releases professionally, getting married, and having a baby. She mentions promoting two films that year: Gangubai and Darlings. She explains that she stayed away from interviews in 2023 because she genuinely didn't have anything new to say professionally.
Alia describes being fascinated by television growing up. She remembers her mother allowing her significant screen time, which she now finds ironic given her own consciousness about her daughter's screen time. She is grateful that watching television allowed her to dream and imagine, and this is where her love for being in front of the camera began. She mentions growing up watching Govinda and Karisma Kapoor dance in films, which made her wonder what was happening behind the screen.
Alia acknowledges that her father is a filmmaker and her mother is an actor who did theatre, which she believes subconsciously influenced her career interest. However, she emphasizes that her connection to television happened very personally, one-on-one.
Alia describes herself as a confident child who was very happy on her own. She mentions her friends would make fun of her for walking alone with a frown on her face, which is her resting face. She explains that people often think she's upset when she's actually just living life. She notes this reflects her dreamer personality.
Alia has maintained the same group of nine friends from childhood. She gives them credit for their patience with her, as her acting career started early at age 17. She mentions that the same things they fought about 10 years ago are the same things they fight about today. Most of her friends live in different parts of the world - four in Mumbai, others in New York, Toronto, London, and Singapore.
Alia describes how her friends now primarily want to talk to her daughter Rah rather than to her. She discusses the overwhelming nature of motherhood, noting that her days are now completely full from 7 AM to 10:30 PM. She mentions being hugely privileged with help and a great support system. She describes the instant bonding period after birth as blissful but also filled with worry.
Alia explains that worry doesn't go away but changes form. She describes the combination of extreme love with extreme worry, emphasizing that she tries to be very present with Rah. She mentions receiving advice from a woman in an elevator who was dropping her son off at college, telling her to enjoy this time because it goes by quickly.
Alia describes Ranbir as amazing with their daughter, noting he is very creative when it comes to entertaining her. She observes that they have a special friendship that sometimes makes them seem like two friends rather than parent and child. She notes a difference in Ranbir since becoming a father, describing him as having a "fullness" she sees daily.
Alia reflects on how love manifests differently in their household now. She mentions the before and after of Rah's arrival, noting that watching sunsets together now feels different and more fulfilling. She describes creating a digital memory book by sending Rah monthly emails containing photos, videos, thoughts, and feelings since she was born.
Alia shares that she and her mother agree that parents always see their children as babies no matter how old they become. She mentions her mother's concerns about her safety when traveling, which she now understands as a parent herself.
Alia discusses giving her child tools to deal with emotions rather than confining her to specific emotional expressions. She acknowledges she can't be a perfect parent but aims to be "good enough." She mentions concerns about being a working mother and whether her daughter might pick up things she wouldn't want her to learn. She emphasizes taking each day as it comes.
Alia notes that her empathy has multiplied since becoming a mother because she pictures her child in every situation. She mentions looking out from her small balcony at other people's homes in Bombay, which gives her perspective on life continuing while her own stresses exist.
When you cut through the worry and think about things on a larger scale, the worry disappears and you feel very grateful for where you are in life.
Becoming a mother opened up a new understanding of life beyond one's own. Alia talks more about wanting to get involved in helping communities and people.
I would rather drown and not talk because sometimes it feels like you are talking to make a point is to see what a great person I am
She acknowledges she can be a much nicer person on a daily basis and much more helpful, and does whatever she can for people and animals, but recognizes she's not even scratching the surface.
Alia still experiences movies like she did as a child, without measuring her emotions or responses. When watching films, she gets completely involved and often talks through them, asking questions like "what is going to happen now?" or "why is she doing that?" Ranbir is described as a silent watcher who is much more diligent with his cinema knowledge.
When exhausted or tired, Alia still experiences sudden crying about completely random things without realizing why. This happened a couple of weeks ago when she was with friends and started crying about something not being right because she hadn't had a good night's sleep.
Her curiosity has not diminished. She always wants to know everything - why things are happening, who people are, and what conversations are taking place across the room. She finds herself lip reading and asking follow-up questions when she can't understand what people are saying.
Raha is still too small to watch full movies. She has watched multiple songs from Alia and Ranbir's films and they are now exposing her to other people's songs as well. Raha has developed the feeling that everything is their song.
Alia realized she doesn't have many child-friendly films in her filmography. Highway, Gangubai, and Raazi are not suitable for young children. This realization has made her want to take up a film that is loved by kids or is kid-friendly, and she is now on the hunt for such a project.
Friends and people who know her say she is Gangubai - that the personality, boyishness, and spice represent her alter ego. Alia acknowledges there is some truth to this from the essence that Gangubai was a child who had sudden fierceness and spice.
Alia feels she needs some playful, bubbly energy which she describes as superficial, privileged, and silly. Rocky Rani had some of that playful quality. She also recalls playing a character named Kavya in Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania who had a silliness that she feels she could do more with.
When she has her daughter in front of her, she gets that silliness naturally. She wants to tune into that more for herself and be more open to silly jokes rather than taking life so seriously.
Certain people can drain Alia's energy. After promotional tours, she feels completely drained from constantly engaging with so many people. She describes herself as very receptive to people's energies - she feels like there is a twinkly light in front of her that takes in people's energy quickly. She is not someone who blocks off to everybody's energy.
At parties, she sometimes behaves very weirdly because she is confused with multiple energies and doesn't know what to do with them. Her team knows her well enough that even on days when she is struggling with this, they understand and accommodate her.
Alia's sister Shaheen was a huge part of her openness to discuss mental health. Shaheen wrote a book called "I've Never Been Unhappier" about living with depression and has amazing tools in life. Her sister's honesty inspired Alia to talk about anxiety and mental health so that someone watching might resonate and feel they are not alone.
Alia was recently clinically diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety. She sought the diagnosis because she was finding it very hard - her body was heating up in social gatherings and she was physically responding to anxiety. She was also finding it hard to focus and realized that multitasking takes a toll on her. She was forgetting scheduled things and couldn't understand why.
She underwent a professional test over three days, not a random personality test, and was diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety. She was happy with the diagnosis because it gave her information. She is not on any medication and chooses to actively work on managing it through other means.
The diagnosis relieved pressure because it made her realize there was a lot of noise and chatter in her brain, and having an answer made her feel it wasn't something she was making up. She now puts specific structures in place to help get through challenges, delegates more to her team, and uses different centering methods.
The need for getting things more in order came after becoming a mother because she doesn't want to forget anything related to her daughter. She and her sister talk about their struggles openly, and it's understood that certain responses come from specific reasons without needing constant explanation.
A study shows that only 2% of the world population can actually multitask, but 98% of people think they can. Alia realized she cannot multitask - when focusing on one thing, her brain shuts out the other part.
Alia has tried multiple habits that she hasn't followed through with - writing things down, meditating, and coloring when anxious. She doesn't force new habits because she doesn't want to set herself up for failure. She decided not to make New Year resolutions and instead just go about the day and do what comes naturally.
Workouts have become natural for her - six days a week. However, her resolution to finish five books in 2024 didn't materialize. She believes that if something comes naturally, it will stick and become part of your life anyway.
Alia's father told her: "I would rather be stupid than pretend to be intelligent." He said this when she was very bad at asking questions in class. The advice means if you don't ask the question, you will never learn. She applies this to being okay with not having answers and learning through asking questions rather than pretending to know.
The worst advice she received was "why can't I do that, it's because you're a girl." It was said when she was very young about something simple like going out somewhere. She doesn't recall experiencing that kind of judgment much in her recent career.
Both Ranbir and Alia asked family members for boy and girl names. Ranbir's mother suggested Raha, which would go well with a boy name they liked if they had both a boy and a girl. Raha means peace, joy, and bliss. They instantly loved the name.
Alia defines this chapter of her life as "growth" - an inward focus on growing in different facets of life as a parent, partner, friend, person, and professional. She is eager to grow spiritually, mentally, physically, and emotionally through listening, conversation, and talking to herself.
Alia references an episode of Friends where Phoebe's partner proposes by saying "Phoebe Buffay, I love you, you are this, you are that, and you are so wonderfully weird." She identifies with being random and strange.
Alia Bhatt emphasizes the importance of accepting all the wonderfully weird parts of oneself. She notes that nobody is perfect or has everything in order, and she takes pride in being wonderfully weird.
Alia describes herself as a very passionate actor, professional, and producer. She states that her dreams regarding work never end and she is never comfortable, which she likes about her mind. A film released the previous year that performed well gave her a new vigor for new dreams in her professional life.
Alia wants to soak up as many moments as possible with her family and daughter. She and Ranbir discussed carving out time for solo trips of four days each. Both describe themselves as home bodies and lone bodies who like to be on their own, thriving individually as well as together.
Alia identifies as a water person and Piscean who loves water and the sun. Her solo trip would be at a beach location where she would take many books to read and finish. She calls this a comfortable dream.
Alia reveals her love for planning, whether for vacations or work, which she finds deeply fascinating and satisfying. She mentions a hidden desire to be a wedding planner and notes that she planned her own wedding, particularly nailing the food aspect.
Alia believes the most important thing in a wedding is food, which she and the interviewer agree on. She states that people want food and a great vibe, and that weddings start with food. She expresses excitement about colors, combinations, themes, and different elements in planning.
Alia mentions planning a New Year's vacation for 20 people from start to finish, receiving commendations for her planning work. She finds this micromanaging aspect satisfying when multiple people are involved.
When asked what single law she would create for everyone in the world to follow, Alia states it would be to just be kind.
The interviewer expresses gratitude for Alia's generous time and looks forward to connecting again in LA at her house with food, noting that Alia's wife ensures there's never a lack of food in their home. Alia mentions remembering most moments in life over food.
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