https://www.vogue.com/article/yac-dinner-2019-deepika-padukone-kendall-jenner
To call Deepika Padukone—the megawatt, Mumbai-based superstar and recent Vogue cover girl—a busy woman would be a gross understatement; one doesn’t get to be India’s highest-paid actress idling about. So the fact that Padukone had flown into New York just for a night suggests she was in town for something of great importance, and that was yesterday evening’s fundraising dinner for the Youth Anxiety Center.
Founded in 2013 by New York–Presbyterian Hospital (in association with its medical school affiliates, Weill Cornell and Columbia University) and spearheaded by Anna Wintour, Tory Burch, Vera Wang, Ana Pincus, and Dr. Herbert Pardes, the YAC is dedicated to the treatment of youths suffering from depression and anxiety through research and clinical programming.
These are conditions with which Padukone is familiar, but judging by her reassuring smile and her commanding presence (she cut a cool figure in a fringed Alberta Ferretti suit), you’d never guess it. It’s a contradiction Padukone is aware of, and she urged last night’s crowd, hosted at the health-focused Cafe Clover, not to be deceived by appearances. “That was the hardest part,” she said of her own experience with depression, “to put on a front every single day like everything is okay in your life when actually that’s far from reality. You’re smiling and bringing joy into other people’s lives when you have none.”
Padukone went on to share her history with clinical depression; one that began with confusion (it was seemingly triggered by nothing as she was at the peak of her career, happily dating her now-husband) and morphed into resistance (she carried a prescription around for weeks before she finally took her first dose) before ultimately reaching recovery. When Padukone found steady footing, she launched Live Laugh Love, an India-based non-profit creating awareness, reducing stigma, and encouraging research surrounding mental illnesses. “I think America has progressed in many ways; there’s a lot more awareness and a lot less stigma as compared to India, where the problem is further compounded by a lack of resources,” she continued. (Her foundation’s website notes her nation’s three psychiatrists per 1 million people.)
Padukone’s commitment to reducing stigma was shared by all in the room, from the doctors who are creating effective resources (the YAC’s Dr. Francis Lee was proudly screening videos from the forthcoming therapy app, Maya) to the young cast members of the little musical that could, Be More Chill, who capture a millennial-strain of social anxiety via song and dance on stage night after night. Also in the crowd was Kendall Jenner, similarly fresh off a plane—she and Padukone could be seen swapping stories about life in the public eye before dinner began. Burch and Wang were present, alongside Marc Metrick of Saks Fifth Avenue, basketball player Kevin Love and his girlfriend Kate Bock, Jonathan Cohen, Aurora James, Faith Lynch, and Mackenzie Drazan, a champion of mental health awareness in her own right. In a sweet Jonathan Cohen dress that paired well with her tangerine-dyed locks, model and photographer Carlotta Kohl admitted she was happy to receive the invitation—the subject of anxiety being quite topical for her, both personally and professionally.
The night had a familiar air to it: Wintour’s children, Charlie Shaffer and Bee Carrozzini, were present, and Wendi Murdoch had her two teenage daughters in tow. Everyone cozied up in booths and enjoyed a dinner of burrata and roasted chicken. Just before dessert, Bee occupied the center of what she dubbed the “Cafe Clove stage” to introduce four out of five of the stars of Broadway’s Tony-winning Temptations musical Ain’t Too Proud: James Harkness, Jawan Jackson, Jeremy Pope, and Ephraim Sykes. (Unfortunately, a case of the flu prevented Derrick Baskin’s attendance.) “These guys are taking their one night off to be with us this evening, and that’s who they are: generous, humble, kind, shockingly talented, and full of energy and style,” announced Carrozzini. All of the adjectives were true, especially the latter—the group showed up in slick, seersucker Thom Browne getups that certainly lived up to the Temptations’s stylish reputation. The foursome then delivered a rousing performance, complete with choreography by Sergio Trujillo.
Wang could be seen chair-dancing to the soulful tunes, and guests clapped along as the group swished across a makeshift dance floor. If the YAC was a family, it made sense that the evening ended with a serenade for one of its founding members, Tory Burch, who was celebrating a birthday that night. She was encircled by the Ain’t Too Proud singers with their rendition of “Happy Birthday,” and it was clear that she, and everyone else in the room for that matter, had much to be proud of.
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