14 July,2026 09:28 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Sufi Motiwala (Pic/Special Arrangements)
Mental health took centre stage in Lock Upp as contestants debated whether today's generation is mentally more vulnerable or simply more aware of their emotions. A deeply emotional moment unfolded when Sufi Motiwala spoke about his battle with overwhelming emotions during his teenage years and revealed that he had attempted suicide twice at the age of 16.
During the discussion, Sufi Motiwala shared a deeply personal story from his teenage years. He said, "When I was 16, my therapist outed me to my family without my consent. She called my grandfather inside, not even my parents, my grandfather. But I was a minor, so I didn't have any power."
He spoke about the pressure of living up to expectations in an orthodox Muslim family and how the situation impacted him emotionally. "They stopped considering me as their child. I felt so alone because, for 16 years, I had never seen any other gay person. I used to wonder, 'Do I have any shortcomings? Is this an illness?' It got to such an extent that I felt like I was a living disappointment."
Sufi then spoke about reaching the darkest point of his life. "I was driven to the edge of suicide. It was my anxiety that stopped me. My anxiety made me think, 'Where will I fall? Someone will have to clean up my dead body. I might get stuck here.' Even at that moment, I didn't want to disappoint anyone. That's why I came back from there."
He added, "Whatever that therapist did was wrong." Sufi further admitted that time had changed the way he looked at the incident. "But, in a way, she freed me. Because if she hadn't told my grandpa that day, I would have been stuck in that hollow."
The content creator was earlier in the news after Shreya Kalra and Shilpa Shinde mocked his mental health. Following an ugly spat, Shilpa pointed out that Sufi required sleeping pills to rest. Pamela, however, emerged as the only housemate who openly supported Sufi during the incident.
Before this, Sufi broke down after getting injured during a task. Soon after entering the show, he also got into a fight with Varun Yadav, aka Laila, accusing him of bullying him at a party.
