Sonali Bendre recently returned to acting after a long hiatus with Zee 5’s newsroom drama The Broken News. Ever since the actress’ diagnosis with cancer, she has been on and off from showbiz appearances. Recently while speaking to Humans of Bombay, Sonali looked back at her diagnosis and healing process.
The Zakhm actress revealed that initially, she thought that the news was a nightmare. She shared, “When I received my cancer diagnosis, my first thought was, ‘Why me?’ I’d wake up thinking it was all a nightmare; I couldn’t believe that this could happen to me.” It was at this time that Sonali thought of seeing the world from the other way. She added, “Instead of ‘why me?’ I started asking, ‘Why not me?’”
Sonali said that she was grateful her close ones weren’t affected by a disease as such. Acknowledging her strength to deal with the deadly disease, Sonali shared, “I had the resources to go to the best hospitals, and the support system to help me through this. Starting to ask ‘why not me?’ helped me start the healing process.”
For the unversed, in 2018, Sonali Bendre was diagnosed with stage four metastatic cancer. The actress moved her base to New York City and was being treated there until she became cancer-free in 2021. Ever since her recovery, the actress has been actively advocating awareness and support for cancer survivors.
When Sonali Bendre said that her cancer diagnosis deepened her love for acting
In an old interview with News18, the Hum Saath Saath Hain actress shared, “Going through an illness gives you a lot of clarity, when you say, ‘I want to survive this’ or ‘When I come out what am I going to do?’ The only thing you can think is going in front of the camera and that’s when I realized that I would really not want to do nothing else but this (acting).”
Sonali will next be seen in the second season of The Broken News alongside Shriya Pilgaonkar and Jaideep Ahlawat which will start streaming on ZEE5 from May 3.
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