Pooja Bhatt Opens Up About Battling Alcoholism: Women Need To Be A Little Bit More Open About That

Pooja Bhatt has never tried to shy away from matters of importance. Be it her marriage, drinking issues, or matters of national importance, she has always been upfront about them.

Actor-director Pooja Bhatt has recalled the time when she decided to quit drinking and opened up about it. She said that she wanted people to know that it was something that could ‘happen to anyone. Pooja also added that women need to be ‘more open about that.   

Talking about not trying to cover up her drinking issues, Pooja said in an exclusive interview with Filmfare, “We try to cover up many things. But four years ago when I decided to quit drinking, I decided to be open about it. I began my career with a film like Daddy, which was about a young girl getting her father who’s an alcoholic to stop drinking. And there I was dealing with the same problem. I reached out to people to let them know that it’s something that could happen to anyone. Women especially need to be a little bit more open about that. And I was overwhelmed by the response that I got from random strangers.”         

The actress also opened up about ending her marriage and what it means for women. “No matter what we women achieve in the world, a lot of us come home and our achievements are reduced to ‘Haan, theek hai na, tumne Nobel prize jeet liya magar abhi khaane mein kya hai?’ (Good, you’ve won the Nobel prize but what’s for dinner?) Are you a mother? Are you not? Are you married? Are you not? I’ve been asked by so many people why aren’t you getting married again. And I tell them I’ve grown up from thinking ‘and they lived happily ever after’.I’ve been there, done that, tried it and recommended it to people too. But my life is not incomplete because I choose to live the way I do,” she added.

On Monday, Pooja celebrated 30 years of the romantic-comedy film Dil Hai ke Manta Nahin also starring Aamir Khan. It was also directed by Mahesh Bhatt and was a major success upon its release in 1991. It was based on the Academy Award-winning 1934 Hollywood classic It Happened One Night.