AIB's Tanmay Bhat Reveals He's Clinically Depressed; Fellow Comedian Aditi Mittal Blasts him

Comedian Tanmay Bhat battling clinical depression; Aditi Mittal asks ‘What Part Of Your Life Will You Not Sell?’

Mumbai: Comedian Tanmay Bhat, who rose to fame with comedy collective AIB, says he has been suffering with clinical depression. He was suspended last October following complaints of not acting against sexual harassment allegations made regarding his colleague Utsav Chakraborty. Bhat on Sunday took to Instagram and uploaded a series of videos, sharing how the subsequent events after his suspension have created a toll on his mental health. He said: "After everything that happened in October, I'm mentally checked out. I feel almost paralysed and unable to participate socially, online or even offline. I think a big part of my self worth growing up as someone who looked like me became my work. For most of my adult life I worked at a company that I was trying to build.  "And having to watch the letting the office go, all the people who worked with us, having to say good bye to that took a toll on me mentally and physically which finally came to a headway around the end of the last year and doctors told me that I am suffering from clinical depression and told me to consider doing something about it." Last month, AIB issued a statement and announced that Bhat would no longer be their CEO. Sharing what's he up to now, Bhat said: "A lot of you have been asking fair questions - why don't you move on, why don't you rebuild, all fair advice but for some reason, I have just watched something that I have worked for last part of my adult life come crashing down. I have just been staring at the rubble going 'what now?'  "I don't think I've been strong enough to be able to pick myself. It's been a few months since the doctor told me to start medication. I honestly sometimes get super worried that this state of paralysis is permanent. I sometimes feel I might never get back to being who I was or operating to my potential." He also thanked people for supporting him. "It's nice to know there are still people out there who are rooting for us and me. I am still clueless about any answers to questions like when will I be back and doing what. I don't know. I'm still feeling extremely paralysed to even put out this message because in my head no one wants to work with a depressed comedian and that's an oxymoron.  "But at some point I just got to get up and start fixing this stuff. I owed you guys a thank you. That's all for now," he added. Take a look at the videos below (SWIPE LEFT):

View this post on Instagram

 

I'm a bit of a mess. I don't know when I'll stop being a bit of a mess. But when I'm less of a mess, I will owe it to everybody who has written in being supportive. Especially those who've seen this mess up close. You know who you are.

A post shared by Tanmay Bhat (@tanmaybhat) on Jun 29, 2019 at 10:38am PDT

Though several people showed their support towards Bhat, fellow comedian Aditi Mittal took to her social media account to share her views on the same. Reacting on the same on Twitter, Aditi Mittal has slammed Tanmay Bhat about being "clinically depressed". She claimed that Bhat brushed away the allegations that led him to step away from comedy/AIB. She wrote how she faced harassment harassment while working with Bhat's AIB & revealed some of the things that were said to her took mental toll on on her. She also added that Tanmay participated in or ignored her being verbally harassed by male comedians post which she didn’t accept work for a year. She wrote, "I remember when I had to hear on the set of a show that I was working on that I gave "t*t access too soon" coz it was told by Tanmay Bhat to the 22 year old writers on that set. I spent a year saying no to work after that coz I was terrified I would have to hear that again (sic)."

Damn. I remember when I had to hear on the set of a show that I was working on that I gave "tit access too soon" coz it was told by Tanmay Bhat to the 22 year old writers on that set.I spent a year saying no to work after that coz I was terrified I would have to hear that again.

— Jai Aryakuchnahikarta (@awryaditi) June 30, 2019

“I remember being slut shamed by Utsav Chakraborty, to a guy that said he liked me. He told the guy "Be careful of Aditi, she's been around." It's kind of why I felt so incredibly strongly for Mahima when she spoke up. Because I just couldn't bear to have MORE of this happen,” she wrote in another tweet.

I remember being slut shamed by Utsav Chakraborty, to a guy that said he liked me. He told the guy "Be careful of Aditi, she's been around." It's kind of why I felt so incredibly strongly for Mahima when she spoke up. Because I just couldn't bear to have MORE of this happen.

— Jai Aryakuchnahikarta (@awryaditi) June 30, 2019

Aditi Mittla has also criticised Tanmay Bhat for the way he used his depression in his Instagram post. “We've all been fucked over by life. But apparently depression is only newsworthy when someone who had a corporates throwing money at him stopped having money thrown at him,” she wrote.

We've all been fucked over by life. But apparently depression is only newsworthy when someone who had a corporates throwing money at him stopped having money thrown at him.

— Jai Aryakuchnahikarta (@awryaditi) June 30, 2019

(Inputs added in IANS copy)