Actor-politician Khushbu Sundar’s daughter, Anandita Sundar, has said that she and her older sister, Avantika Sundar, have been subjected to massive trolling since they were children.
“My sister and I were always chubby kids. We got obese at 16. It became unhealthy. Then we started facing health issues at a very young age. Not very serious health issues. I had so many goals. I knew I needed to be healthy. My only way to be healthy at that age was to lose weight. I think a lot of people don’t realise that it is not something sudden,” Anandita, a producer, told JFW Unscripted podcast.
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Anandita said she started losing weight in 2018 or 2019. “It took me 7 years to get here. In between, there was COVID, so no one saw that we were losing weight. I had my first weight loss over three years during Covid. My mom and I. Everyone was like, she has done this…she has done surgery…but you all have not seen us…how do you decide?” she asked.
‘Never lost weight to please others’
She laughed off suggestions that she took weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro. “I started working when I was 19 as an assistant director, which was a high-pressure job. I had fractures in between, but now for 2.5 years, I am losing that weight again. So, now that I am giving interviews, people think…it’s Ozempic or Mounjaro. I laugh about it. It (The hate) will never stop. I have never lost the weight to please other people.”
“To get that amount of hate at 15-16, I was getting an ungodly amount of hate and no one …no one realised that you are talking to a child…I was 15. I wasn’t even an adult yet. My parents are celebrities, but that doesn’t mean that you can take entitlement. How do you know I took Ozempic to lose weight? Why is my weight loss or health journey reflective of what you should do?”
She said trolls have not stopped, and body shaming continues even after she lost weight. “If I post a photo, and I get 100 comments, 99 comments are about how ugly I am. But I can’t do anything about that. It’s sad. The same people who called me fat are now calling me a stick, a skeleton. What do you want? I realise that the hate will never stop.”
During the conversation, Anandita also said she is trolled for “looking like a transgender”.
A journey driven by self-respect
Delnna Rrajesh, a psychotherapist and life coach, said Anandita’s experience reflects that many people assume body shaming is about weight. In , it is often about judgment, projection, comparison, and the human tendency to comment on things that do not concern us.
“What makes her story particularly heartbreaking is that much of this scrutiny began when she was still a child. She described receiving an ‘ungodly amount of hate’ at the age of 15 or 16. As adults, we sometimes forget that public figures have children who are still developing emotionally, psychologically, and socially. The internet often erodes the natural empathy that exists in face-to-face interactions. People write comments they would never say directly to another human being,” Rrajesh said.
She noted that Anandita’s statement about why she chose to lose weight is crucial.
“There is a significant between changing yourself because you hate yourself and changing yourself because you care about yourself. One journey is driven by shame. The other is driven by self-respect,” she added.
A shift in focus
Rrajesh often recommends that those struggling with body image shift the question they ask themselves. She said instead of asking, “How do I look?” ask, “How do I feel?” She also added that the focus should be on energy levels, strength, mobility, health markers, sleep quality, confidence, and overall well-being rather than just weight.
“This helps move the conversation from appearance to health,” she said.
For anyone struggling with body image, self-esteem, or public criticism, there are a few important reminders worth holding onto:
*Your health journey belongs to you. It does not require public approval.
*A healthier body does not automatically create a healthier self-image. Both require attention.
*Criticism often reveals more about the critic than the person being criticised.
*Self-worth built on appearance alone will always feel fragile because appearance inevitably changes.
*Sustainable transformation is usually the result of small, consistent actions repeated over time, not overnight solutions.
*You do not have to justify every to people who are not living your life.
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