Jackky Bhagnani Recalls Painful Body Shaming by Uncle Before Acting Career

Jackky Bhagnani recalls being bodyshamed by uncle before becoming an actor

Mumbai, June 4

Speaking openly about growing up overweight, Jackky, who appeared on the show with his wife Rakul Preet Singh, revealed that he weighed nearly 150 kilos when he was young and often became the target of insensitive remarks related to his body.

Recalling one of the incident, Jackky shared, "I still remember there was a film made on Akshay Sir, Khiladio Ka Khiladi, that time, there was a chatter amongst producers that they are calling WWF wrestler Yokozuna, how he is being brought to India for Bollywood. It was a huge buzz then.

"During one such conversation, a little overweight uncle told my father, 'Why do you need to call Yokozuna from outside? You already have one at home'."

Jackky shared: "As a child, you laugh it off in front of people, but those things stay with you."

The actor further spoke about how body shaming affects people.

"When you are growing up you are also part of all jokes. If you are overweight or dark-skinned in this country, people don't think twice before bullying you. For example if someone is laughing there you feel, kahin ye mujhpe toh nahi hans raha (is he laughing at me?), but in reality that person is not even aware of me"

Jackky also talked about when he expressed his dream of becoming an actor while assisting his father in film production.

"I told my father one day that I wanted to become an actor. He looked at me honestly and said, 'I cannot launch you in this state.' At that moment it hurt, but today I understand that he was trying to push me towards becoming healthier and more disciplined."

— IANS