#MeToo: Aditi Rao Hydari opens up on her work loss, says I was given a choice

In 2018, many women have spoken about the atrocities they have faced in the hands of powerful men and many such stories have been shared over social media where women have garnered up the courage to talk about how they have been harassed by such men. Film actress Aditi Rao Hydari was speaking at the India Today Conclave South 2018 in Visakhapatnam on Friday where she shared her #MeToo story. Hydari narrates that the incident made her hopeless about finding work again. In the wake of the #MeToo movement, talking at the event, Aditi Rao Hydari spoke up about the whole #MeToo campaign and that she was too naive when she had entered the industry.

However, Aditi says that her experience wasn’t as harsh as the accounts of other women, but it made her lose work for almost 8 months.“I remember when I started, I was extra-naive because I came from a protected background. I didn’t know that the rumours were true, that things like this did happen. And honestly, I have not had such a bad time. I had one incident which actually didn’t harm me very much. But yes, I did lose work because I was given a choice - it’s either this or this. For me, it was a no-brainer. I had to walk away,” she said.

Aditi had previously talked about her forbearance in an interview with Sunday Guardian. “I did lose work and I cried about it. I didn’t regret it but I cried about it because I felt so upset that this was true and this is how girls are treated. I was like, how dare someone speak to me like that! For about eight months I didn’t get work, but I feel that decision made me stronger in my intention about the kind of work I wanted to do,” she said.

“I think that everybody should do what they need to do when they think it is right. That is what empowering a person is. This #MeToo movement is turning that on its head and taking that power away by putting these conditions and saying, ‘You must speak. If you don’t, that means you are giving in,’” she added.

The Kaatru Veliyidai actress has always been vocal about her opinion on the #MeToo controversy. “I think that everybody should do what they need to do when they think it is right. That is what empowering a person is. This #MeToo movement is turning that on its head and taking that power away by putting these conditions and saying, ‘You must speak. If you don’t, that means you are giving in,’” she had written in her tweet when the #MeToo movement caught fire.

Slow clap for the dizzying heights of hypocrisy... People who are clearly guilty of major harassment giving gyaan on the #MeTooIndia movement...

— Aditi Rao Hydari (@aditiraohydari) October 12, 2018

Aditi has B-town hits like Padmaavat to her name and has earned a brand value with a bunch of Hindi films like Bhoomi and Daas Dev. Other than Hindi movies, Aditi is a face well-known in Telugu movies like Antariksham 9000 kmph and Sammohanam.