Ayesha Omar, in a recent interview with Waseem Badami, opened up about being sexually harassed at the age of 22 by a powerful person in the industry. The actor has shared her experience of being harassed on several occasions but has never named her perpetrator. However, while recounting the experience on Badami’s Masoomana Sawaal, Ayesha got emotional and started crying on live television.
During the interview, the actor said that she has never cried while talking about this incident before.
“Maybe it was your question,” said Ayesha, while explaining why she felt emotional.
“Nobody said it was easy,” said Ayesha later, in an Instagram post, while referring to the interview.
“Not sure if I’ve ever cried on live television before,” said the actor. “To be able to let your guard down and be vulnerable…to be able to talk about your painful, difficult experiences from an honest place…to relive and recall traumatic times…to describe your feelings and talk to your younger self…it’s not easy.”
“It’s not even easy doing it one on one with someone trained to ask the right questions, in private, let alone publicly on live television,” she continued. “But I hope by doing so, I was able to make other humans who have had painful experiences or faced sexual/verbal/physical harassment at any point in their lives, feel a little less alone and a little more hopeful…to try to let go of self-blame and self-deprecation and hold their perpetrators responsible.”
Read more – Ayesha Omar opens up about her childhood struggles
On the show, Ayesha, while sharing her experience, had said: “I had just joined the industry, I was hardly 22 years old. He was a man in power and I was scared to go against him. I did not have the courage to tell anyone about it. I’m sorry about that.”
“I am sorry to the person I was; had I shared it then, I would have been a stronger person today. A lot of other girls also suffered at the hands of the same person. Had I spoken up against him then, maybe he might have stopped.”
Meanwhile, fellow female stars supported her in the comment section of her post.
