Celebrities silence age-shaming trolls

Hyderabad: While ageing is a part and parcel of every human being’s life, it has lately become a nightmare for female celebrities in India and around the world. Time and again, internet trolls and others target actors like Kareena Kapoor Khan, Amrita Arora, Malaika Arora Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Shamita Shetty, and Neha Dhupia, among many others for something as natural as getting older.

On a recent picture of Amrita, Kareena, and Malaika from Karan Johar’s 50th birthday bash, an internet troll by the name Masudul Haq commented, “3 buddi,” with a laughing emoji. Another troll called Mahika wrote, “Expire products”. Reacting to these comments, Amrita silenced the trolls writing, “So… buddi is meant to be an insult? Cos for me it’s just a word… a word that means old. Yes, we are older and wiser… but you are nameless, faceless, and ageless (sic).”

Earlier, in the ‘Bigg Boss’ house, Tejasswi Prakash age-shamed Shamita when she called her an ‘aunty’. On one of Neha Dhupia’s latest photos, a troll commented, “Your hair is white not beautiful (sic).” Neha has been flaunting her grey hair with swag lately. And so has Telugu film star Sameera Reddy for a long time now.

Speaking from her own experience, Telugu TV and film actor Anasuya Bharadwaj shared, “I am surprised that age-shaming is rampant in Bollywood because I was under the impression that it was happening only to me here in the South. When I started my career with ‘Jabardasth’, people weren’t aware that I was already a mother and showered me with compliments. However, I took a break and conceived my second child and that is when people began trolling me. Trolls were abusive even towards my family and would ask if I didn’t have any other work.”

The age-shaming continued for over eight years for Anasuya but it only made her stronger. “Just because I am married and have children, I am termed as an ‘aunty’. I teach my children to address my counterparts as ‘sir’ and ‘madam’ because it’s not fair to just call anyone uncle and aunty when they are not your family,” shared Anasuya. “The best reaction to these keyboard warriors is to not react. As for women who go through age-shaming, just be strong and glad that you are growing wiser. People who troll you are not as wise as you,” added Anasuya.

Age-shaming isn’t restricted to just a woman’s physical appearance – women like Priyanka Chopra are shamed for even marrying someone younger than them. Even in the modelling world, age is a big deal and supermodels like Irina Shayk feel ‘grateful’ to be employed in their mid-30s. Irina had earlier told ‘People.com’, “I think women are like a good wine: better with age, wiser and (make) better decisions in life.”

Says Alice Rosario, a model from Hyderabad, “Women are under constant scrutiny and are shamed for almost everything. It is good that people are not taking this nonsense and are talking back like Amrita. My body, my rules, and no one should have a say about it.”