Mumbai: Shruti Haasan has opened up about how her experience with PCOS influenced her thoughts on motherhood from a young age.
The actor, now 40, revealed that she was just 14 when she was told that conceiving could be difficult for her, a possibility that stayed with her over the years.
On Soha Ali Khan’s podcast, Shruti spoke about how she grew up believing that having a biological child might not be an option for her.
She said her perspective changed after she discussed the possibility of motherhood with her gynaecologist.
“I’ve been told throughout that PCOS and childbirth, like conception, is like forget about it. Since I was fourteen, it’s going to be difficult, amma,” she said.
That early advice stayed with Shruti for years, shaping the way she viewed motherhood.
She had begun to see pregnancy not as a future possibility, but as something that might simply not be in the cards for her.
Her outlook changed after she began consulting gynaecologist Dr Dhrupti Dedhia, whom Shruti credited with giving her a more positive perspective.
According to the actor, her doctor acknowledged the challenges associated with PCOS but explained them without making her feel that motherhood was out of reach.
“But she really broke it down to why it’s not. She just opened my mind. It was about saying, in a really beautiful way, if that’s what you want, when you’re ready, we’ll figure it out,” she said.
Shruti said her doctor’s perspective helped her question the assumptions she had carried since adolescence, particularly the belief that age or PCOS could rule out motherhood altogether.
She also pointed to women who have chosen to become mothers later in life, adding, “Now you see that Cameron Diaz had a baby at 53. I’m so glad that my doctor speaks to me that way.”
For Shruti, the conversation was less about making an immediate decision and more about allowing herself to consider motherhood as a possibility.
She realised she did not have to rule it out before deciding what she truly wanted.
The actor also made it clear that she does not see motherhood as being limited to having a biological child.
“I even told her that I am even open to adopt. I would really love to just be a mum,” Shruti shared.
At the same time, she said she would like to explore the possibility of having a biological child herself, if it remains an option for her.
“But I would also like to try it definitely as an extension of myself, in some biological way,” she added.
Shruti said that before speaking to her doctor, she had half-expected to be told that the window had already closed.
“And that conversation was really eye-opening to me. Because I just thought that if I ask her, she’ll be like, beta, dukaan bandh hogaya. You know?” she said.