Helping other people realise they aren't alone was the impetus for Sidhartha Mallya, actor, model and son of business tycoon Vijay Mallya, when it came to writing his new memoir about his mental health journey. In a session at the Times LitFest, the 34-year-old was in conversation with author Jyotsna Mohan and discussed his struggles with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and depression, his relationship with his father and the impact his parents’ divorce had on his life.
“I’m definitely attracted to people who come from stability. Writing the book was a lonely experience, but I have loved the past few weeks of talking to people about it because I live for human connection,” he says. “That definitely stems from everything I went through, from the divorce to being an only child and being a part of a family, and then not being a part of a family.”
While he has discussed his mental health with his father, it is not a conversation they have a lot, he said. “We don’t really speak about it. I have told him I go to therapy and he was happy that I had found my peace,” he said, adding that they have reached a point of acceptance of their differences and have mutual respect.
His OCD, Mallya said, “destroyed me for years”. “You constantly live with this demon on your shoulder thinking if I put one foot out of place, something bad is going to happen to me,” he said, adding that writing the book triggered the condition, which led him to go to a psychiatrist.
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