I Was Told I Was Too Dark, Broad And Didn’t Fit into ‘Girl-next-door’ Look: Sameera Reddy

Actor Sameera Reddy recently revealed that she was constantly told that she was “too dark” and did not fit into the mould of the “girl next door” in the film industry.

Sameera opened up about her struggles when she was new in the industry and how she tried to fit into the physical stereotypes attached to female actors.

In an interview with Bollywood Bubble, Sameera said, “I was told I was too dark, too tall, too broad. I didn’t fit into that girl next door look. I had to constantly try and fit in it and it really exhausted and tired me. I don’t regret it because that was my learning to learn to come to this point of loving myself unconditionally. You have to go through a point where you actually hate yourself because when you come to this point of hating yourself so much and break into pieces, you can put yourself back together in the most beautiful way possible.”

As an actor, Sameera was expected to look a certain way. “It was not discrimination. More than that it was more of you have to look a certain way, whether you have to pad your chest or hips. There was always something that I had to fix,” she said.

Sameera, who made her big-screen debut in 2002 with Maine Dil Tujhko Diya, was last seen in the Kannada film Varadhanayaka (2013). During her second pregnancy, she had started a campaign #ImperfectlyPerfect, in which she addressed body image issues and advocated self-love.