Women’s Day Exclusive: Sameera Reddy recalls feeling the need to be fairer, would do body makeup

The actress has been associated with P&G Shiksha, which strives to ‘Erase The Learning Gap’ with its current campaign. Speaking about the importance of education today, Reddy noted that parenting today is evolving rapidly. Rather than paying attention to scores on report cards, mothers are giving credence to educating kids about issues such as gender equality, bullying and mental health.

She elaborates, “What our parents did not know or did not think was an issue, today for us it is. We are more politically correct. We are more aware when we speak about gender equality, whether it’s about bullying or trolling. In general, there is a certain awareness of doing the right thing at a very early age today.”

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Sameera Reddy (@reddysameera)

Motherhood, she says, also reshaped her professional choices and priorities. Reddy shared that she initially chose to step back from her career to focus on raising her children before gradually building a space for herself. Does she regret losing out on work? “I do sometimes question myself, but it is what it is.”

Sameera Reddy on postpartum struggles

The actress has also been vocal about the emotional struggles she experienced after becoming a mother. She recalled dealing with postpartum weight gain, loneliness and feelings of being judged. “I had postpartum weight gain, and I felt so alone and lonely. I felt judged, and my self-esteem took a big hit. Interestingly, when Nyra was born, I decided I’m not going to go through this again. In fact, I want to go out there and make sure that if somebody is going through this, I want to be there for them,” she said.

While this journey propelled Sameera to initiate the ‘messy mama’ community, where she openly speaks about such issues, it also came with its fair share of struggles, with online trolling affecting her. She remarks, “It would be impossible for me to say that it didn’t bother me. But today, after five years, I am actually very neutral to it. That doesn’t change the fact that I am a good human being. So now trolling doesn’t bother me. In fact, it’s very rare on my page because my community of women is very safe and real.”

With International Women’s Day approaching, Reddy believes the idea of empowerment should begin within families rather than being limited to online conversations. She explains, “Understand your mother better, your sister, your cousin, your mother-in-law — and empower these women. Because empowerment starts at home. And I honestly believe this.”

Sameera Reddy on industry struggles

Looking back at her early years in the film industry, Reddy also spoke about the stereotypes she faced regarding appearance and body image. “As an actor, as a woman, I always felt I had to be fairer. For some strange reason, everybody was always putting fairer makeup on me. So I had to do body makeup also, and that really bothered me. I was always made to feel I was never slim enough. I’m a very tall girl, so I was made to feel I was too tall and too big. Somewhere that stuck with me in the beginning. For years, my narrative as an actor was always about my size, when it should have been about talent, acting and many other things. Today I look back and I do not even know why I allowed that to happen, but that was the industry norm.”

She added that she faced a different kind of skepticism when her social media journey began. “I was told, ‘You’re a mother, you’ve put on weight, you have grey hair. You can’t really get back into this line. People are not going to accept you.’ I took that not as a challenge but as, ‘Okay, I’m going to build my own space. If you like it, stay. If you don’t, please leave.’”

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