Khushbu Sundar says she was abused by her father as a child in interview

Khushbu Sundar
| Photo Credit: SPL

In a video interview published by the online news website Mojo Story, actor-politician Khushbu has been reported as saying that she faced sexual abuse from her father at the age of eight.

“When a child is abused, it scars them for life; it’s about whether they’re a boy or a girl. Not many people are able to come out of that,” said Khushbu, who is also a member of the National Commission for Women, in an interview to Mojo Story’s Barkha Dutt.

Khushbu also opened up about her mother’s abusive marriage with her father. “(He was) a man who probably thought it was his birthright to beat up his wife and children, and sexually abuse his only daughter; he thought it was right to do so being a man.”

“When my abuse started, I was just eight years old and I had the courage to speak against him when I was 15,” she added. When asked about how she took on her father at such a young age, Khushbu said that the torment reached a point where she had to stand up. “He kept on abusing me by using this one thing — that if I opened my mouth, he would abuse my mother and my other three older brothers more. And that fear sets into you because you don’t want your other family members to be abused because of what you are going through.”

The one thing that stayed in her, Khushbu said, was that if her mother wouldn’t believe her. “I have seen her in that environment where she had the ‘Kuch bhi hojaye, mera pati devata hai’ (Whatever happens, my husband is my God) mindset.” She added that when she eventually revolted against her father at the age of 15, he abandoned the family and that they “didn’t know where the next meal will come from.”

“I got that courage because I was confident about myself, that I could do it. As a young woman, I thought it was enough and I had to stand up. I am glad I did because had he been a part of my family, I wouldn’t have reached so far nor would I have had the courage to fight all other odds because if I could manage the man at home, I could manage the world easily,” she added.

Khushbu, who started her career in films as a child artist, has had a prolific career spanning over four decades. She has acted in various languages, with Tamil being her forte. To date, she has over 100 Tamil films to her credit and has acted alongside many stars. Her combination with Rajinikanth had a fanbase on its own and even inspired the ‘Kondayil Thazhampoo’ song from their 1992 movie Annamalai.

On the political front, Khushbu was a part of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam until 2014. She then moved to the Indian National Congress to become the National Spokesperson. In October 2020, she quit Congress and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. In the 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elections, she contested for the Thousand Lights constituency in Chennai. She currently holds chair as the National Executive Committee Member of the BJP.