Prateik Babbar has come to terms with all the complications of his life, and says he has fought the demons of substance abuse. But the actor says he is still “work in progress”, and wants to write a book about his struggle to inspire people who are going through the same. The actor said that his fans were under the impression that he was leading a “happy life”, and were unaware about the dark truth of his life. And that is the reason he decided to talk about it in public.
He says the “guilt of being an addict yet having unconditional love from people with all aspirations and hope” from him was killing him. The actor came out in the open about substance abuse in April last year, and has maintained his distance from drugs and alcohol for over a year now. “There was a part of my life that people didn’t know about. All these years, people, fans and admirers saw me in a certain way as a good actor, a happy guy. But that wasn’t the case. I wasn’t happy, I wasn’t being good to myself. I was a heavy addict. It was a huge problem,” Prateik told IANS over phone from Mumbai.
He added: “I wanted the fans and admirers to know that side of my life. I didn’t want them to have any false impression and that is why I wanted people to know about the downfall of my life. I wanted to tell them this happened to me and I am not perfect.”Prateik, son of late actress Smita Patil and actor-politician Raj Babbar, started his acting career with a small but noticeable role in “Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na” in 2008. He followed up his act with films like “Dhobi Ghat”, “Dum Maaro Dum” and “Ekk Deewana Tha”. His last release came in 2013 with “Issaq”.
