The quiet side of celebrity

As social media demands constant visibility, some actresses are choosing a life away from the feed

For celebrities, social media can be a powerful bridge to audiences, but for some actresses it has increasingly become a source of scrutiny, speculation and unwanted intrusion, prompting them to retreat from platforms that once seemed essential to public life.

Pakistani actress Ramsha Khan's recent withdrawal from social media offers one of the clearest examples of this changing relationship. For months, fans have wondered about the actor's absence after she appeared to delete or deactivate her Instagram account following her reported marriage to her 'Biryani' co-star Khushhal Khan in April.

Her retreat became the subject of renewed speculation recently when she was seemingly absent from photographs and reels shared during her sister Alysha Khan's wedding festivities. While Alysha documented much of the celebrations online, fans struggled to spot Ramsha in the footage.

The absence fuelled speculation, including suggestions that a masked couple seen in one video could have been Ramsha and Khushhal. There was no confirmation, but the episode demonstrated how quickly an absence from social media can itself become content for public discussion.

Journalist Hassan Chaudhry later offered an explanation after speaking directly to both actors. During a discussion on 'Something Haute' with Aamna Isani, he said Ramsha had made it clear that she simply did not want to be seen on camera anymore.

The decision appears to have been influenced, at least partly, by what happened around her wedding. Ramsha and Khushhal had initially chosen to keep their marriage private, but photographs purportedly showing their Nikkah were leaked online.

The incident visibly frustrated Ramsha, who wrote a strongly worded note criticising social media pages for turning her private life into content for attention and engagement. According to Chaudhry, the experience contributed to her decision to retreat further from public platforms.

Ramsha's experience also sits within a wider debate about the pressures created by social media and the changing expectations of fans. The boundaries between celebrities and audiences have become increasingly blurred, with personal moments frequently transformed into online content.

The problem is not limited to actresses. A discussion of contemporary fan culture points to a new relationship in which artists, fans, fandom and a wider online audience occupy the same space. Personal encounters that once remained within a shared world between performer and fan can now become material for public narration and online engagement.

That shift has made boundaries increasingly important. Celebrities can find it difficult to distinguish between devoted fans, people highly engaged with them in a negative way and members of the general public. The constant possibility of being photographed, filmed or discussed online can make public life feel like continuous surveillance.

In India, Malini Sharma's story presents another, very different dimension of an actress stepping away from showbiz. The former model and actress, who rose to fame after playing a ghost in the 2002 horror film 'Raaz', eventually distanced herself from acting and the entertainment industry.

She now runs 'The Slow Local', a farm stay in the Sahyadri hills near Pune. Yet even after leaving the spotlight, social media brought renewed attention to her life when photographs and videos from the farm stay went viral.

The response was so large that the property's management struggled with a continuous stream of calls. Malini eventually released a video asking fans to use WhatsApp rather than calling, while also acknowledging the large number of messages arriving on her Instagram account.

Her experience illustrates the paradox of withdrawing from celebrity life: even when an actress chooses a quieter existence, social media can bring the public back to her doorstep.

Not every veteran actress, however, has avoided the platforms. Zeenat Aman has become a prominent Instagram presence through anecdotes about her past life as a superstar, while Saira Banu has used the platform to share memories of her late husband, actor Dilip Kumar.

Their success shows that social media can offer older stars a new way to connect with audiences on their own terms. Yet the contrast with Ramsha and Malini is revealing. For some actresses, social media provides an opportunity to control their narrative; for others, stepping away may be the preferred way of reclaiming privacy.

The attraction of social media is therefore matched by its risks. As audiences become accustomed to constant access, celebrities face growing pressure to remain visible, while their decisions to disappear can generate even greater curiosity.

For actresses choosing distance, silence may no longer simply mean absence. In an age when every photograph, appearance and personal moment can become online content, withdrawing from social media can itself become a statement about where the boundaries of public life should lie.