Declaring myself 'The Girl with a Broken Neck' changed my life: Edelweiss's Radhika Gupta

Edelweiss Mutual Funds CEO and MD Radhika Gupta

Edelweiss Mutual Funds MD and CEO Radhika Gupta shared a personal note on Tuesday to mark World Mental Health Day and said that once she owned her deformity in public, it changed her life.

Gupta, who was one of the youngest CEOs in the country and also one of the only women in such a role, wrote on X, "Five years ago, declaring myself 'The Girl with a Broken Neck' changed my life, and also my perspective on mental health. Each one of us leads two lives. One on the front of the stage - what people see, in control, problem-free. And one behind the stage - what no one sees, chaotic, full of heartache, failure, and frustration."

Further elaborating on her point she encouraged people to not bottle up their feelings, to not be afraid to ask for help, and to empathise when others ask for it.

"Backstage is normal, and never compare your backstage with someone else's front stage. And never be afraid to share your backstage feelings," Radhika Gupta wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "As a colleague, friend, and person, do remember that other people have a backstage, and you don't know how messy it really is. Try to see what is invisible, and listen to what is unspoken. Everyone needs help and it is okay to ask for it."

Five years ago, declaring myself "The Girl with a Broken Neck" changed my life, and also my perspective on mental health.

Each one of us leads two lives. One on the front of the stage - what people see, in control, problem free. And one behind the stage - what no one sees,… pic.twitter.com/uUsOTWTq21

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— Radhika Gupta (@iRadhikaGupta) October 10, 2023

The Edelweiss MF boss had opened up about her deformity during an event in 2018 where she spoke about how she was born with complications in Pakistan and had to spend time as a newborn in an incubator. The nurse placed her in the wrong position, due to which her neck was left with a permanent tilt. As a result, she faced a lot of rejection in her childhood but ultimately defied all odds to become one of the youngest CEOs at 33.

Later, she became known as “The Girl with a Broken Neck” after sharing her story in a video that reached hundreds of thousands of viewers on YouTube.