KUALA LUMPUR: Fate dealt a wicked hand to director and actor Esma Daniel two years ago, putting him in deep depression.
He admitted to having suffered from depression when he failed to save his second marriage from ending with a divorce.
Things became worse for Esma when his father passed away.
Having to deal with another round of grief must have taken a toll on the 50-year-old artiste who said that it was an arduous task to get back on his feet again after that dark episode.
“I was mentally and emotionally unstable and this affected my work. My future plans became blurry at that point and everything I was working on didn’t feel right.
“Many acting offers came but I had to decline. For some which I said yes to, I had difficulty focusing. I was at the lowest possible point in my life. And this went on for a year or so,” he said in a news report today.
The director of Zaiton: Ceritaku also said that it was his eldest son Habib Daniel, 25, who helped lift his spirits and saved him from falling deeper into oblivion.
“Habib reminded me to never be defeated by emotions, and pushed me to rise again and come out stronger.”
Esma said that his son who was a fitness coach had encouraged him to hit the gym so that he could start living a healthy lifestyle again.
He initially started exercising just as a stress-reliever, but soon fell in love with the routines. After a while, he realised he was no longer depressed, and became more positive to continue living his life.