Chinese actress Zhao Lusi admits to suffering from depression

Chinese actress Zhao Lusi has responded about her health condition in a Weibo post yesterday (Jan 1), days after photos of her in a wheelchair at the accident and emergency (A&E) department of a hospital circulated online sparked public concern. 

The 26-year-old revealed in her post that she has been suffering from depression since 2019, but didn't seek help for it.

"In 2019, I started experiencing feelings of depression and received comments such as 'Don't make a mountain out of a molehill' and 'Just be more open-minded'.

"I also felt that I was too unreasonable and sensitive, and neglected my own psychological problems," she wrote in her post.

Some of Lusi's notable works include Love Like the Galaxy, Hidden Love and The Story of the Pearl Girl.

Then in 2021, she started to develop a skin allergy, reportedly due to her psychological condition. And when her situation didn't improve after repeated treatments at a hospital, she said she decided to consult a psychologist to manage her anxiety.

In 2023, she developed other conditions including pneumonia and night sweats. In addition, she was also affected by a number of family issues, including the death of a family member and another struck by cancer, and continued to neglect her own situation.

Her situation worsened in 2024, when she noticed symptoms such as nausea, dizziness, joint pains and allergies happening more frequently, but thought that those were side effects from her allergy medication.

In her recent Weibo post, Lusi apologised for taking up public resources and thanked those who had given her their support and helped in her career, adding that she is aware everyone has their own fair share of problems.

Addressing the online speculations and discussions about her health recently, Lusi wrote: "I didn't want my illness to be a publicity stunt, but since the matter had come to this point, I want everyone to understand better. Being depressed is a type of feeling, but depression is an illness, it cannot be resolved by being 'open-minded' or 'talking it out'."

Assaulted for failing an audition

Lusi also admitted to having been assaulted by an unnamed individual in her management company for failing an audition previously.

This comes after a netizen claiming to be her friend posted on Weibo recently about the incident back in 2019, when Lusi was allegedly staying with her while auditioning for dramas in Beijing.

One night, she came home to Lusi telling her, "I didn't know why I was beaten, I am very scared."

Lusi also reportedly told her friend that someone in her management company pulled her into the toilet and reprimanded her for two hours, criticising her for not getting a role and her body weight. Lusi was later hit by the same person as she was leaving.

In response to this, Lusi wrote in her post yesterday: "I was hit [by someone]. At the time, I thought it was my fault that I didn't get the role. I didn't dare to create trouble, and just wanted to escape. I am used to managing my own affairs and didn't have the habit of asking anyone for help."

She wrote at the end of her post: "Regret is a useless emotion. I will think of it as an opportunity to give myself a 'special period of time' to overturn the contradictory state of my inner self and reestablish myself again."

Lusi's management company Galaxy Cool Entertainment also released a statement through a Weibo post yesterday, saying that they have been working with her to deal with the difficulties that she has been facing.

"We fully accept the rational feedback and suggestions from all parties and deeply reflect on and sincerely apologise for our shortcomings," said the company.

"Since we have been managing Lusi's work, our goal has always been the same, which is to prioritise Lusi physical and mental health."

The company also shared that Lusi and them have no differences in her work plans and will continue to work towards a reasonable arrangement in her projects in the future. They ended the post by thanking everyone for showing their concern for her and hope that they give her some time to recuperate and return to public again.

yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com

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