Sushmita Sen, the first Indian to win the Miss Universe title at 18, spoke candidly about how society was less welcoming back in the 1990s. She also shared that she faced criticism for being vocal when she was young.
During an interview with actor Rhea Chakraborty on her YouTube channel, Sushmita Sen talked her struggles to maintain her independence. The actor also recalled how, when she was eighteen, her parents questioned her for using the word "sex" in an interview and asked her to be more careful.
“The society was not as open as today. It was like ‘haw.’ Everything was ‘haww’ to the extent that my Maa and Baba had to sit me down and say, ‘There is a lot riding on your shoulders and curb a little bit of what you’re saying. Why use the word ‘sex’ in an interview at 18? Shobhaa De’s writing badly about you.’ And I remember her name coming up specifically, you know, Bengali. Bengalis are considered intellectual. So, it was the intellectual articles that were bothering and not the gossip ones,” Sushmita said.
But shortly after, Sushmita went for an interview with Shobhaa De in which she purposefully used the word "sex."
“I purposely brought up the word because everything that I wanted to be was not ‘Miss Universe’, or ‘the most beautiful person.’ I wanted to be a liberated human being, someone who is truly free. In that attempt, I became India’s first Miss Universe. It was that freedom that let me do it. Now that I won it, everyone was trying to curb that freedom because so much of the onus lies on you for so many things,” she add.
The ‘Aarya’ actor had to battle through a lot because discrimination and criticism were frequently too much for her to bear.
“I had to fight really hard and at that time, there were also moms and dads who thought I was a bad influence on children because I was so outspoken. I have always believed that if you hold on to rejection for too long, it turns into acceptance. I have seen this in my life repeatedly. You reach a point in your life where you say, ‘I am done being the tree in the background as an actor’ or a sidekick to anyone,” Sushmita shared.