A few days ago, Momina Mustehsan posted a series of messages on social media to describe her battle with mental illness. It came in light of model Anam Tanoli’s death, who succumbed to depression. The singer wrote an open letter to the deceased model and also opened up about her personal fight, and attached the string of posts with photos taken during her low. Her posts about depression were subject to criticism by influential blogger Anaum Hammad, who took to Instagram to denounce the actress for allegedly faking her illness and called her photos out for being a “pretty, sad girl aesthetic.”
Momina’s open letter to Anam Tanoli and her own battle with mental illness has come under fire by blogger Anaum who called the singer’s depression as ‘professionally clicked”
The blogger began her Instagram story by expressing the influence of celebrities such as Momina, and what effect they have on the public’s perception. She discussed her own struggle with depression where she said all she did was “sleep” and was “mentally and emotionally exhausted.” She described how she barely ate anything and didn’t wish to meet anyone during her nine-month fight.
The blogger denounced Momina for misrepresenting depression and felt “insult[ed]” that the mental illness was shown as something it isn’t
Anaum was upset at how “mental health is overlooked” and how it’s seen as a “social stigma,” before labeling this situation a “serious problem”
Anaum then screenshotted Momina’s original post and wrote her own caption on it “depression doesn’t look any way…but it [definitely] does NOT look professionally clicked”
She further wrote “…with this pretty, sad girl aesthetic” in reference to Momina’s photo.
Momina responded to the accusations, saying that her photos were taken during the time she “was going through turmoil”
She condemned Anaum for “being written off and judged” instead of being “encouraged and given strength.” She tagged the photographer Muzi in the post too, writing how he took the photos of her “real face” during her crisis. Momina said very few people are clicked when they’re “completely emotionally naked and vulnerable.” She further discussed how she had suffered such a massive panic attack on the day these photos were taken. She then ended the message with an apology to Anaum and criticised her for saying she was misrepresenting depression.
Here is Momina’s full response
Do you agree with Anaum’s statements?