By Ekta Chanana Last Updated:
Bollywood actress, Sonali Bendre is an epitome of beauty, strength and lots of courage! Last year, she gave a huge shock to her millions of fans when she had announced her battle with metastatic cancer. However, the actress not only redefined beauty but also life with her positive outlook and in-trend hashtag – ‘one day at a time’. (Recommend Read: When Sisters Karisma Kapoor And Kareena Kapoor Glammed It At The Former's Mehendi (Throwback Video))
Recently, in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar magazine, the actress had revealed her thoughts when she was diagnosed with cancer. She had shared, “So when my PET [Positron Emission Tomography] scan showed up cancer had spread all over my abdomen, like fairy lights scattered all over, and when the doctor in New York said that there was about 30 per cent chance of it all going away, we were shattered.”
The 43-year-old actress has always been open about her journey since the beginning. In the same interview with Harper’s Bazaar magazine, the actress talked about the time when she lost her hair due to treatment and how she embraced her new hair. She revealed, “When I shaved my hair, my friends asked me to keep it, maybe make my own wig out of it, but I wanted the old hair to go, it was not mine. I wanted to let go. I think I hid a lot under my long hair.” (Also Read: Malaika Arora And Amrita Arora's Workout Pic Proves Sisters Who Do Yoga Together, Namaslay Together)
Sonali also took to her Instagram handle and shared a video of her embracing the new hair cut for the magazine’s cover shoot. Along with the video, she penned her feelings and wrote, “Took me a while to get used to having little hair. But once that set in, there was no looking back (literally!) It has been months since I’ve even needed a trim’. So, during the @bazaarindia shoot when @mickeycontractor said that I needed one, my first thought was, Really? Before I could react, he was all set armed with an eyebrow scissor, ready to go at it! I couldn’t stop smiling. Never thought I’d get a makeover of sorts like this, but I guess it’s #MyNewNormal. #SwitchOnTheSunshine #OneDayAtATime.” Take a look at the video below:
In an interview with Mumbai Mirror, Sonali had shared how at the start of her career, her lustrous hair was the talk of the town. She had revealed, “Now that I think of it, my whole life had been all about my hair, even though it sounds superficial. I’ve endorsed every hair product at some point in my life.”
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Sonali had also talked about her scars in an interview with Vogue, and had stated, “My first thought was to hide it because it was a disease. I thought my ‘brand’ is overall along I had been endorsing healthy eating and health-focused products, and suddenly it was all gone. It was only when my oncologist said that I had fourth-stage cancer and a 30 percent chance that my whole world view changed. Suddenly I didn’t see any reason not to talk about it. I had done nothing wrong; it was not my fault I had cancer, so why was I hiding it?”
She had further added, “It’s unreal to remain positive all the time. There will be overcast days. I wanted to tell anyone who was feeling low that it’s okay to have negative emotions. We will feel high and low, and our job is to just try and prolong those highs.” Sonali also revealed about the time when she shaved her head in the bathroom, and had stated, “It was that very typical meltdown-in-a-shower scene. There was nothing new about it—it was exactly how you see it in books and movies, where the protagonist takes a razor and shaves it off. I wanted to write a new story, but it was the same old scene. My idea was to go for a haircut with my girlfriends, open a bottle of champagne and toast to the one glass I was allowed to have before I shaved my head! So that scene remains.” (Don't Miss: Sonam Kapoor On Father Anil Kapoor, Says I Was Always Given The Independence To Take My Decisions)
Well, Sonali is definitely a ray of hope for all the cancer fighters, after all, she taught us how to switch on the sunshine mode!