“I stopped smiling for years”: Neha opens up about painful trauma
News Desk
Bollywood actress Neha Dhupia has made a shocking revelation about the harsh beauty standards and emotional trauma she faced during the early days of her career in the entertainment industry.
Speaking on the show “Double Date,” hosted by Neha Dhupia and her husband Angad Bedi, the actress recalled an incident that deeply affected her confidence for nearly a decade.
During a candid conversation with guests Huma Qureshi and Saqib Saleem, Neha shared that when she was new to the industry and auditioning for a television show, a casting director made a cruel remark about her appearance.
“I smiled at him, and he told me, ‘Don’t smile. When you smile, you look bad,’” Neha revealed.
The actress said the comment shattered her confidence to such an extent that even after winning the Miss India title, she avoided smiling in photographs for years.
“If you look at my pictures from that period, I’m not smiling in any of them. That one comment stayed with me mentally for the next eight to ten years,” she said.
Neha Dhupia further revealed that losing the Miss Universe competition also badly impacted her emotionally, adding that it took her nearly eight to ten months to recover from the disappointment.
During the same show, actress Huma Qureshi also opened up about the dark side of fame and online trolling. She revealed that after the release of her second film, severe criticism and negative comments on social media pushed her into isolation.
Huma said the trolling affected her mental health so deeply that she sought regular psychological therapy and began writing a diary to cope with her emotions and regain control over her life.
