Actress-model Rhea Chakraborty was arrested in a drugs-related probe in connection with the death of actor and her then boyfriend Sushant Singh Rajput. The entire fiasco did not only showcased the extremely toxic behaviour of Indian social media users but also showed how several mainstream media outlets ran a hate campaign against her.
Post that time, she has received only one film opportunity, and when she was recently asked if the industry was scared of hiring her, she told Mid-Day, “I feel there is still a sense of fear on that front, but I’m hoping it normalises soon. A lot of it has calmed down, and honestly, the power of trolls is gone.”
For those caught unaware, Rhea spent 28 days in Byculla jail in 2020 for allegedly procuring drugs for Sushant. She was later granted bail and of rebuilding her life step by step. She was only offered Rumi Jaffery’s mystery thriller ‘Chehre’, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Emraan Hashmi in the lead roles, post the episode.
“Life has come a long way. This year has been normal for me after three years. It’s very important for me to feel normal. I love the fact that I can be out and about, doing regular things,” the 31-year-old actor said.
Meanwhile, recently, Rhea hosted the 20th season of the reality show MTV Roadies, titled Roadies: Karm Ya Kaand.
Recalling how she managed to come out stronger from the intense storm, Rhea said, “In the first few months, I was thrown into a storm, and it was a spectacle after that. But honestly, grief is something that lingers. It doesn’t go away. Your grief stays and your life grows around it. Healing is about facing our own emotions and the pain that comes with it. In therapy, I realised how to stop letting it take over my life.”
Stating how she is still one of the most trolled people online, Rhea quipped, “Are we aware enough? No. Tier-2 and 3 cities, and villages have a long way to go as far as [awareness around] mental health is concerned. Mental health is the real pandemic that we realised during the pandemic. It was sitting right there amidst all of us and we just brushed it under the carpet. I hate it when people say, ‘Pagal ho kya? Don’t waste money on doctors.’ Our parents and their parents didn’t have the awareness; they called it a rough patch. But one needs support and kindness through it.”
