Mumbai: Actress Ayesha Khan, who recently gained widespread attention for her performance in the Dhurandhar song “Shararat”, has opened up about the harsh realities of online harassment she faces.
She revealed receiving rape threats and highly sexualised comments almost daily, describing such abuse as disturbingly normalised on social media. This comes amid her candid discussion at a recent event, where she highlighted the pervasive trolling, body-shaming, and threats that many women in the public eye endure.
Speaking at the ‘We The Women’ event, Ayesha said, “I am almost every day sexualised for my body on Instagram. I wear a normal top; people have a problem, I wear skirts, people have a problem. I have to think before posting. If I have to think before wearing something or wanting to post something, just because someone else is going to sexualise me, it’s, of course, a very sad space to be in. I don’t know, there’s a very thin line I keep struggling, sometimes I think I’ll post whatever I want, but other times I am not in the mood to see any comments telling me whatever they would have done to me if they had a chance.”
She went on to add, “Because you are a potential rapist if you had the strength or you could do what you are saying, you would do it. So it’s very scary that these are actual human beings around us. These are not just comments. I have had rape threats every day. I so wish something strict could be done about it. There are days when it triggers my wounds, scares me that if I were not this famous or powerful like I am today, it could have happened.”
The actress, who began her journey as a junior artist and made her television debut with ‘Kasautii Zindagii Kay’, recollected an incident when she was finalised as the second lead in a T-Series music video while she was in Class XII, but was replaced last minute for being “fat.”
Admitting that it took her years to feel confident in her own skin, Ayesha acknowledged that constant scrutiny can deeply affect one’s self-esteem, but she has eventually learnt to embrace herself as she is.
On the work front, Ayesha was most recently seen in Kapil Sharma’s ‘Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon 2’.
