Sonali Bendre is a fighter and she proved this to the world when she chose to reveal her fight with cancer and share her dilemmas and doubts regarding the disease with countless people inspiring them through her social media posts. Today, at an event in Delhi the actress spoke at length about beauty standards and how she who was a supermodel and a successful actress came to accept her imperfect body and revealed her efforts to get comfortable with it.

Sonali had lustrous hair and she had shared a heartbreaking post on her social media when she got her tresses cut because of her impending treatment. Talking about her looks, she said, “I have endorsed every hair product in my career. Looks have been my bread, butter, and jam. Looks are important in our society. But, considering that that was the career, it has been scary. The world as I know it turned upside down or was no more there. And when I came to know that I have cancer, I got my team together and told them about it. I told them that I have a disease. As a brand, I endorse healthy products and a certain way of looks. I told them my brand was over. I told them that I was going for this treatment and I don't know where this goes. They told me that we are in it with you and they have been with me wonderfully.”

[caption id="attachment_175244" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] Sonali Bendre[/caption]

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She said, “Every time you step out, you are still thinking I don't have that hair anymore but thankfully the eyebrows are back. I promise myself I will not cry as my mascara will run out and believe me it has been time since I put mascara on. I am very happy to have it on but those are all the fears that you face, and however small they might sound, they are real and that's what we all go through. Now, when I say that I have learned to be fearless, there is a threshold and when I step out of that threshold, my comfort zone, the fear is still at the pit of my stomach. It holds me down a bit and then I start making excuses. But then I say no, I am going to go out and face people. It is taking a lot of push to cross that threshold to say that I will be comfortable with my body, with the imperfections and I will find beauty in that."

Sonali’s words will resonate with everyone out there because looks are very important for everyone and one thing that is the most noticeable in a person who is fighting the Big C is the loss of hair and their looks because of the disease and its treatment rob away all the outward vanity.