Sushmita Sen opens up about her life-threatening illness, her real-life love story, and her new show, Aarya 

Miss Universe 1994-turned-Bollywood star Sushmita Sen is all set to make her big comeback with Aarya, a Hotstar Special, which releases on June 19, 2020. Despite the fact that she's currently self-isolating at home with family, Sen has been busy promoting the show via virtual interviews, and recently spoke with film critic Anupama Chopra about the upcoming series too. During the chat, the actor opened up about what it was like for her to be on the sets of a big project after all these years, and also revealed details about her and boyfriend Rohman Shawl's love story, and her five-year battle with Addison's disease, which few knew about up until now. 

Talking about her 10-year sabbatical, Sen revealed, “The reason I am also excited [to be back] is that all through the last ten years, out of which five were lovely… watching my little one grow up and being there a hundred per cent… after that, the last five years were pretty traumatising. They took me to the darkest of places that I had never been to before.” Addison's disease, for those who haven't heard of it before, is an illness that occurs due to the lack of hormone production from the adrenal glands, resulting in nausea, fatigue, dizziness and in some cases, low blood pressure. The rare disorder can be treated, but not cured.

Through her journey with Addison's disease, Sen revealed that it was always hope and a positive mindset that kept her going. “I did not know it would be called Aarya, but I knew that something good is coming and I have to hold on and fight whatever it is I am facing now, because I am not done. And by that, I don’t mean a film or web-series, but just something to look forward to.” Quite like her off-screen self, the character of Aarya, as seen in the show's trailer, is that of a powerful woman and mother who leaves quite an impact on her audience.

Sushmita Sen, who has been dating Rohman Shawl since late 2018, also used this opportunity to open up about her sweet love story to Anupama Chopra. “It was serendipity.” The duo actually met on Instagram. “I don't check my DMs, I never opened direct messages. I was upset because someone had broken a glass and I just started scrolling through my phone and suddenly I saw I have opened a direct message and there he was. A beautiful man holding a guitar and saying the most lovely things. He was very honestly and unapologetically telling me something. And I responded to him and that's how it started.” As it turns out, Sen and Shawl aren't the only celebrity couple who met via social media. Priyanka Chopra fans may already know that the star first spoke to husband Nick Jonas online too.

Aarya, the Hotstar Special has been co-directed by Ram Madhvani, Sandeep Modi and Vinod Rawat. The show is based on the Dutch series, Penoza, and tells the story of a mother-of-three who dives into the world of drugs to carry forward her husband's illegal narcotics business after an assassination attempt eaves him in the hospital. 

Aarya will premiere on Disney+ Hotstar on June 19

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