Mumbai: Prominent South Indian actress and politician Khushboo Sundar has revealed disturbing details of the abuse she endured during her childhood. In an interview with journalist Vicky Lalwani, she shared that she was sexually abused by her father and that he was also physically abusive toward her mother and brothers. Her testimony sheds light on the lasting trauma inflicted by domestic abuse and the resilience required to overcome it.
Khushboo described her father’s violent behavior in explicit detail, painting a picture of relentless abuse within her household. She explained that while she suffered sexual abuse, her father’s physical violence targeted her brothers and mother. “He was sexually abusive towards me, he was physically abusive towards my brothers. He would beat them up with a belt, buckle, heels of a shoe. He would punch my mother. He would slam my mother to the wall. So we have seen the man be so abusive.”
Her father’s actions created a climate of fear that left Khushboo terrified of speaking out. She feared that disclosing the abuse would provoke even greater violence toward her family. “There was this fear instilled in me that if you were going to speak about what he did to anybody, then he would abuse them more, beat them up more. So I had to bear the brunt as I was already seeing how he was beating up my brothers and my mother. I was very scared,” she explained.
Khushboo’s journey towards healing began when her family relocated to Chennai. At the age of 14, she finally spoke about the abuse, marking a turning point in her life. She credited a hairdresser named Ubin, who worked with her on the sets of the film Janu, for helping her muster the courage to confront the situation.
Ubin her hairdresser, a single mother of four, noticed the inappropriate behavior of Khushboo’s father and decided to intervene. “She probably noticed his touches and had doubts because she had four grown-up children. She was a single parent herself, so she probably suspected that this man was not right. She had seen how he would beat me up on set and in the hotel room. She probably realized his body language towards me was not right,” Khushboo revealed.
When Ubin approached Khushboo and encouraged her to confide in someone, Khushboo broke down and shared her story. “She spoke to me, she asked me. That’s when I broke down to her, and she told me that I had to speak to my mom,” Khushboo recalled.
After confronting her past, Khushboo eventually went on to build a successful career in the South Indian film industry and later transitioned into politics. She has used her platform to advocate for women’s rights and to raise awareness about abuse, drawing from her own experiences to support survivors.