People on the internet often have a habit of picking apart every detail about a celebrity’s life and appearance. If a celebrity’s smile looks a bit different, people assume it’s the result of botox gone wrong. If they lose weight, there are speculations about extreme diets or supplements. If they gain weight, rumours start about pregnancy, with people claiming they see a “baby bump” or questioning if it’s real.
This constant analysis is terribly insensitive and invasive.
Recently, Alia Bhatt took to Instagram to address a similar issue that she has been facing – videos claiming her smile is “crooked” and one-half of her face is paralysed because of botox.
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Several such videos can be found on the internet. However, these ones are the most concerning, where a person claims to be a doctor and is dressed like a medic:
Alia Bhatt finally had enough. On Instagram, she responded to the persistent rumours about her looks and alleged cosmetic procedures and criticised content creators for spreading misinformation.
“Absolutely NO JUDGEMENT towards anyone who chooses cosmetic corrections or surgery-your body, your choice. But wow, this is beyond ridiculous! To the random video floating around literally claiming I’ve had Botox gone wrong (and to the numerous clickbait articles) – I have a ‘crooked smile’ and a ‘weird way of speaking’, according to YOU. This is your hypercritical, microscopic judgment of a human face. And now you’re confidently tossing around ‘scientific’ explanations, claiming I’m paralysed on one side? Are you kidding me? These are SERIOUS claims being casually thrown out there with zero proof, no confirmation, and absolutely nothing to back it up,” she wrote on her Stories.
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She called for attention to the serious nature of such accusations made without any real proof. Alia also highlighted the damaging impact of these rumours, especially on young people who might believe such “clickbait” stories and be negatively influenced by them.
She added, “What’s worse, you’re influencing young, impressionable minds who might actually believe this garbage. Why are you saying this? For clickbait? Attention? Because none of it makes sense. Let’s take a minute to address the absurd lens through which women are judged and objectified on the internet – our faces, bodies, personal lives, even our bumps (!!!) are up for critique. We should be celebrating individuality, not tearing it apart under a microscope. These types of judgments perpetuate unrealistic standards, making people feel like they’re never ‘enough’. It’s damaging, and it’s exhausting.”
“And the saddest part? A lot of this judgment comes from other women. Whatever happened to “live and let live”? To “everyone has the right to their own choices”? Instead, we’ve become so accustomed to picking each other apart that it’s almost normalized. Meanwhile just another day of even thorougher entertainment with scripts made up by the Internet (sic),” Alia Bhatt concluded.
Have a look at her Instagram Story here:
This cycle of rumor-mongering needs to stop!