I was told I'm too thin, too fat, too dark, too tall; who would marry me: Sonam Kapoor

Actor recalls being body-shamed and trolled her for being a star child

Arbaaz Khan’s online show Pinch is fast gaining popularity, thanks to all the interesting people who have graced it so far. Sonam Kapoor was the latest to follow in the footsteps of Kareena Kapoor, Karan Johar, Varun Dhawan and Sonakshi Sinha, who appeared on the show earlier.

In the episode – which aired on April 16 – Kapoor opened up about a host of topics: Twitter trolls, films, her friends in the Indian film industry and what not. But the part that truly hit home was when she spoke about being body shamed and how it affected her.

PHOTO: INSTAGRAM/ SONAM KAPOOR

“Till I was a certain age, I was called Giraffe because I was too thin. And then I gained weight, then I had a hard time with my weight. Sometimes, you don’t put on weight, then people are like, “Oh my God, itni patli hai, so thin” blah blah blah. Especially when you come from Punjabi family, and they feed you so much you gain weight, then they are like, “bahot moti ho gayi hai, kaali ho gayi hai, lambi ho gayi hai, shaadi kaun karega? (She is too thin, too fat, too dark, too tall… who will marry her? It’s not healthy, it’s not correct, it’s not mentally okay. People go through so many mental health problems, you can’t do that to people.”

One of the segments on Pinch involves Khan discussing mean tweets about his guests, with the guests. Kapoor was also shown some negative comments left by people on her on social media. One Twitter user, for instance, had criticised the Khoobsurat star for not knowing how to act, despite having been in Bollywood for 10 years now. Others called her a product of nepotism.

PHOTO: INSTAGRAM

Kapoor, however, took the opportunity to explain what nepotism means to her. “I just want to explain what nepotism really is. It actually means getting a job through any connection. I think people have misunderstood this or use the word to put other people down,” she stated.

According to the Bollywood beauty, not taking advantage of her father Anil Kapoor’s influence would be disrespectful towards him. “Another thing that I would like to clarify is that my father did not come from an illustrious family. He’s been in this industry for 40 years and has worked hard only for his children. If I don’t take advantage of this hard work, which he has done for us, I think I’d be a little disrespectful to it and what he is trying to do for us,” said Kapoor. “Every man or woman, mother or father works for their children.”

PHOTO: VOGUE

Kapoor’s stance on nepotism mirrors that of her father’s. “There is a thought that if I have so much, why should I not give it to my kids?” the Ram Lakhan star said in a 2017 interview with The Times of India. “It’s in every business. You equally respect those who make it on their own. There is pain in both but the pain here is that we are unnecessarily running people down. What can we do if we are born in this family?”

He continued, “I have also thought that way. When I had started my career, I used to think the same way about Sunny Deol and Sanjay Dutt, that they had it much easier because they had Dharmendra and Sunil Dutt.”

Both father and daughter were last seen in the recently-released Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa, which marked their first feature film together. The project was well received but did mediocre business at the box office. Kapoor is now gearing up for The Zoya Factor, opposite Dulquer Salman.

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