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Karan Brar
Former Disney Channel star Karan Brar opens up about his mental health journey.
In a first person essay for Teen VogueTHE star girl The actor opens up about how he began developing symptoms of depression in the summer of 2020 after his close friend and former costar Cameron Boyce died of epilepsy in July 2019.
Shortly before Boyce’s death, he, Brar and their friend, actress Sophie Reynolds, moved in together. Shortly after the three became roommates, Brar, now 24, came out as gay and, although his friends supported him, he found himself struggling with internalized homophobia.
After Boyce’s death, things became more difficult for the star girl actor. “I hadn’t faced my internalized homophobia, thinking that revealing it to my friends was enough to eradicate it (it wasn’t). My mental health deteriorated and my grief was unresolved “, he wrote.
Brar added that he was “in a downward spiral since Cameron’s sudden death.” He continued: “With the pandemic putting the world on pause, I was forced to sit down with myself. I refused to acknowledge how much pain I was in and isolated myself in a deeply unhealthy relationship with alcohol. Some of my friends knew I needed to help, but I didn’t for a long time.
Related: Disney Channel Star Cameron Boyce Dies at 20