Sameera Reddy has been unabashedly vocal about dealing with post-partum depression, body positivity and how it took a lot of work for her to come to terms with her physical appearance. She now looks at her old ‘diva’ self, the type she fit into when she was working in showbiz, as an old chapter. Now, with a massive following on social media, she ‘influences’ people to accept and love themselves just as they are.
In an interview with The Indian Express, Sameera Reddy opened up about sharing her grey hair, textured skin, and her “imperfectly-perfect” self on social media and the kind of reactions she gets from the audience.
While there have been people to their support on her, there have also been others who shamed her for being ‘too real’ on social media.
“When I got on to social media and I started to show my belly, my stretch marks, my grey hair and my age, a lot of people unfollowed me and asked why are you doing this. And I am happy they did that, as I wanted the right crowd. It is very important to choose your tribe and finally, the tribe has chosen me. I am grateful for it.”
Despite facing unnecessary judgement from some, Sameera talks about not caring for it much. When asked about her worst experience being judged, she said:
“I don’t really care. But yes, a lot of people went after my white hair. I have no idea why. I got comments like, ‘Why cannot you cover it up?’ or ‘What’s wrong with you’.”
She went on to add:
“I had girls saying, ‘Why are you misrepresenting what we should look like,’ and it made no sense to me. Social media is not a platform where you can please everybody. We have been fed such unreal standards of beauty that we have now become victims and part of this process that one cannot break. I also do not blame people for saying things like ‘why are you showing this real side’ as they are not conditioned to see it.”Â
People like Sameera Reddy being ‘real’ on social media is important. It sets an example of how life is much more than a picture-perfect moment, that’s it’s okay to have grey hair, textured skin, and a messy life. This normalises what we deem as “flaws” and helps people to be their true selves unapologetically.