Actor Ileana D'Cruz who has often spoken about being a victim of body shaming, recently talked about it in detail while stating that it 'takes a lot of inner strength' to convince oneself that 'what they are saying doesn't matter'.
The 'Barfi' actor, who started out young in films down South and later established herself as a Hindi film star too, revealed that she has been body-shamed since she was achild in an interview with Bollywood Bubble.
On the topic of being constantly body-shamed and expected to be of a certain body type, Ileana disclosed she was commented on the size of her butt, over and over again and was advised to undergo the knife on several occasions.
While sharing her experience, Ileana told Bollywood Bubble, "I remember those days like it was yesterday. It's weird because it's a very deeply ingrained scar. I went through body-shaming right from the time I was 12. I had just hit puberty and growing up. You are hit with these weird comments. And people are passing comments about your body and saying, 'Oh My God, why is your butt so big?' And I am like, 'What do you mean?' You think you are fine and then suddenly you have random people saying things about you and you start to believe what they are saying. So I think it's a deeply ingrained scar because you are carrying it for so many years. It takes a lot of inner strength to tell yourself that what they are saying doesn’t matter. What you feel about yourself is most important. And it’s something I tell myself every single day."
"Because I go through it every day. I have at least 10 messages that I can find on my Instagram right now about body shaming for sure. So there's always going to be somebody saying something about you and it's harsh. And as much as I would like to tell people can you please be more kind more sensitive because you don't understand how much it can affect somebody else. The only thing that’s in your control is you and how you think about yourself. So I would constantly just tell people your opinion about yourself is what matters the most. The hell with the world, the hell with what they think. Only your opinion matters. You are someone who is going to live with your body. There are days when I am like, 'I don’t like this. Is my stomach too bloated?’ But now I am like, 'No it’s fine, there's a uterus in there so it's fine. It's alright. It's not gonna be flat," she also added.
Meanwhile, in another interview with Bollywood Hungama, Ileana spoke about dealing with her body dysmorphia back in 2017. She said, "There’s a lot of reasons why people develop body dysmorphia, for me it was the peer pressure. During my teenage years, I was criticized a lot for how I looked and I was made to believe that my body was very different. It was always like, ‘Why are your legs like that?’ or ‘Why are your hips like that?’ and I used to be like ‘I don’t know, it’s just the way I am!’ It had somehow caused a little bit of a complex, it stayed with me and it kind of scarred me. I didn’t realise it was dysmorphia till I spoke to my therapist and she addressed the issue. I used to tell her that I’ll be happy when I hit this number on the scale and she told me that it is dysmorphia and I might not be pleased with myself even after hitting the mark. She asked me to accept who I was and it took time. Some days are good some aren't."
Ileana has been very vocal about her facing body-shaming and trying to overcome it. She also speaks about body positivity on her social media posts. Recently, during an AskMe session on Instagram, when a user asked her if she had gone under the knife, Ileana replied saying she hadn't.
On the work front, Ileana was last seen in 'The Big Bull'. She will be next seen in 'Unfair & Lovely' alongside Randeep Hooda.