“I would have turned into an egoistic maniac,” Virat Kohli talks about his struggles with mental health

Kohli said that as much as he was trying to keep the outside noise away, he was affected by what people were saying .

“I would have turned into an egoistic maniac,” Virat Kohli talks about his struggles with mental health

Former India and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain, Virat Kohli talked about his struggles with mental health when he was not able to perform well on the field. Kohli said that he had a lot of negative thoughts coming to his mind and he was not able to be himself. The 34-year-old then revealed how his wife, Anushka Sharma helped him stay levelled and prevented him from turning into “an egoistic maniac”.

Kohli said that every conversation he has with Sharma is priceless as she speaks the truth. The former India captain also talked about his daughter’s role in redeeming his older self.

“I always say Anushka’s name, because she has seen the challenges of being in this position. She knows it. She has been there for so many years. She still understands that what it takes to handle the pressure of a public figure,” said Kohli. “So her conversations with me have always been priceless, because she tells me the truth.”

“How she spoke to me during that whole phase is something that kept me in check. Had I been left to myself to figure out, I would have become an egoistic maniac. I would have been even snappier and cranky. But she made me humbler as we grew together.”

“The one thing that I learnt looking at my child was to be present. But I was hardly present,” said Kohli while talking about the influence of his daughter Vamika. “She would be in the moment, present; I wasn’t.”

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Kohli admits to not being himself!

virat kohli serious

The 34-year-old also admitted that he was not able to be himself due to many reasons. Kohli said that as much as he was trying to keep the outside noise away, he was affected by what people were saying and he was trying to live up to the expectations of those very people.

“I won’t be dishonest…I was doing that for a long period of time. Till the time that it became so unhealthy where I was trying to live upto the expectations and this idea of Virat Kohli in people’s heads, … like this guy has to operate in this way, he has to present himself in a certain manner and that was eating me up from the inside because I have never been a guy to pretend or portray someone that I am not.” Kohli said.

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