Celina Jaitley reveals she was in a ‘traumatic relationship with a closeted gay man’ at 16

By Bollywood Reporter

on October 25, 2018

Celina Jaitley is all set to make her comeback in the film industry with Ram Kamal Mukherjee’s Season's Greetings: A Tribute to Rituparno Ghosh based on Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and spoke to a leading daily about her love for the subject. The 36-year-old actress, who is also an LGBTQI activist, said that the film appealed to her because it “deals with every aspect” of the community.

During her interview, Celina also revealed that she has known people from the LGBT community and in fact, was in a relationship with “a closeted gay man” as well.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BYQbQgLgQo1/?hl=en&taken-by=celinajaitlyofficial

“A famous gay Kolkata based make-up artist was a mother figure to me in my struggling days as a model there. I closely observed his trials and tribulations as a gay middle-aged man, then as a senior citizen. Incidentally, at the same time, I was in a traumatic relationship with a closeted gay man. At 16, you think prayers and shamans can fix this. Their untimely deaths a few years later made me realise that everyone has the right to life and choose whom they can have a relationship with. I had to do something about it. After 12 years as an activist, the United Nations appointed me as a goodwill ambassador for the same cause and today we have come full circle after abolishment of Section 377,” Celina told the daily.

In Season's Greetings: A Tribute to Rituparno Ghosh, Celina will be playing the role of the daughter, opposite veteran actor Lillette Dubey who plays the role of her mother. The film casts newcomer Azhar Khan as the male protagonist.

Of the film, she had told a news agency earlier, "I knew that this film will be worth my time, as post marriage and motherhood I was looking for a subject that would excite me as a performer. Considering the fact that I have been associated with LGTBQIA movement since past 18 years, and Rituda (Rituparno Ghosh) being an inspiration for all of us, I feel that finally I will be acting in a film that deals with this issue.”

Celina appeared in the films including Janasheen, No Entry and Apna Sapna Money Money. She was last seen in Will You Marry Me? in 2012.