Radhika Apte opens up on weight anxiety, industry pressures: ‘These horrendous beauty norms…’

Actor Radhika Apte has spoken openly about her struggles with body image, weight fluctuations and industry pressure.

Radhika Apte on struggles with body image and industry pressure

In a recent interview with India Today, she said the issue “really bothers me” and admitted that she often thinks about losing weight.

“Sometimes it really bothers me, the weight fluctuations, swellings, this, that I won’t lie to you, it does. I feel like, ‘Oh, I need to lose the weight that I’ve put on.’ I keep thinking of it all the time,”

Apte said to India Today. She said the fixation unsettled her because it clashed with her core beliefs. “I never had this problem before. And I was like, where is it coming from? Because it doesn’t sit with my value system. I believe in natural beauty, and I always will stand by it.”

Apte traced much of her anxiety back to an early setback in her career. She said she was once offered a major film role that was written for her. But when she returned from a trip slightly heavier, she was criticised by the team. “I came back and they freaked out. They did a photoshoot with me, sat with my photographs, and said, ‘This is so fat.’ And they dropped me like this,” she recalled.

The film later became a hit and helped launch the careers of the actors who replaced her. Apte said losing out on that opportunity over “some three or four kilos” was difficult to accept at the time. “For some three or four kilos, I lost out on an opportunity that would have changed my career,” she said.

On having to seek therapy

That experience led her to seek therapy. Through that process she said she gained insight into how deeply industry expectations can affect mental health and self-image. “That was such a blessing in disguise. Later, I realised that shaped who I am today. It made me stronger. I can now say with more power that I’m not going to adhere to these notions. I’m not going to conform to your ideas of beauty.”

Apte said her convictions show up in her work today. She disclosed that she shot two films just three months after giving birth, without attempting to conceal or reduce her postpartum body. Apte said, “I was three months postpartum when I shot two films. I am bigger than I’ve ever been. And I was like, I’m going to be on camera, and I’m going to proudly be on camera. And I did it.”

She spoke strongly against what she described as harmful beauty standards and the pressure many feel to meet them. “These horrendous and impossible beauty norms, the insecurities, the obsession with age, it’s for everybody’s mental health. It really is,” she said.

Apte also called out what she sees as a double standard for ageing in the industry. “When men age, they’re ageing like fine wine. When women age, they’re just older. They’re not treated the same way, are they?” she emphasised.

Her comments come amid broader public conversation about body image, beauty norms and mental health in media industries. Experts and celebrities have increasingly spoken out about the physical and psychological impact of rigid standards.

According to a recent India Today report, many public figures are confronting pressures around weight, appearance and career prospects.

Apte stressed that fear of ageing and fear of imperfection are widespread problems. “We’re so scared of ageing. My God, it’s the one thing you can’t change,” she said. “The way we perceive beauty now is so superficial, so shallow, we’re really not in a good spot.”

The actor’s new film ‘Saali Mohabbat’ is directed by Tisca Chopra and is available for streaming on Zee5. She was also recently seen in ‘Raat Akeli Hai - The Bansal Murders.’ It can be streamed on Netflix.