Lollywood diva Ayesha Omar shed light on her own views regarding sexual harassment in her recent interview with a local publication.
The Karachi Se Lahore actor opened up about being sexually abused and her struggle as a child of a single parent.
Delving into details, the 40-year-old sent shockwaves with her groundbreaking revelation of being harassed during the early days of her career.
Revealing the plethora of difficult situations she face, the Bulbulay star revealed, “The biggest bumps came during my professional life. The people who I respected and considered my seniors were the ones who turned their backs and hurt me. I was sexually harassed at a very young age. It happened early on in my childhood, and then later in my career as well.”
“It wasn’t a one-off incident. It was at a workplace of mine where I was a salaried employee. This was when I was a fresh graduate. When it happened, I was like, ‘What?’ It was a shock. I asked myself what was happening, what was that person doing, how was that acceptable?”
Moreover, the Yalghaar star touched upon the prevalent issue of harassment within the showbiz and highlighted the victim-blaming mentality.
“If you were to expose a person in a position of authority, you fear that they would harm you in other ways. We’ve seen recently a lot of backlashes a victim has to face if they choose to speak up. I will always give the victims the benefit of the doubt, whether men, women or children.”
Narrating another incident where she made it a point to get her disapproval across, Ayesha said: “There’s a person who has been in this industry for a very long time, who was been a director as well as actor, he met me somewhere and said something very condescending about me in public.”
“I called him later on and told him that I couldn’t speak to him earlier, but that I didn’t like what he said and that it was very disrespectful. He asked, ‘Is this why you called me?’ and when I said yes, he shut the phone. I had to state my boundaries.”
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On the work front, Ayesha Omar is all set to star in a suspense film with Yasir Hussain. The film is based on the life of the notorious serial killer Javed Iqbal.
Ayesha Omar gives a sneak-peek into her adventurous holiday in Dubai
