Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan’s daughter Ira Khan has said that she was sexually abused at 14. She made the revelation while talking about the divorce of her parents, Aamir Khan and Reena Dutta, which happened in 2002.
"When I was 14, I was sexually harassed. That was slightly an odd situation as I didn't know what that person was doing and if they knew what they were doing. It wasn't happening every day. So it took me a year to be sure that they knew what they are doing and that is what they are doing. My parents got myself out of the situation. Once I was out of the situation, I didn't feel bad anymore. I wasn't scared. I felt like this is not happening to me anymore and it's over. And I moved on. It was not something that has scarred me for life and something that could make me feel bad," Ira said in a video she posted on Instagram.
"I never spoke to anyone about anything because I assumed that my privilege meant I should handle my stuff on my own, or if there was something bigger, it would make people need a better answer than 'I don't know'. It made me feel like I needed a better answer and until I had that answer, my feelings weren't something I should bother anyone else with. No problem was big enough to ponder too long about," she continued.
She further added, “What would anyone do? I had everything. What would anyone say? I had said it all. I still think there's a small part of me that thinks I'm making all this up, that I have nothing to feel bad about, that I'm not trying hard enough, that maybe I'm over reacting. Old habits die hard. It takes me feeling my worst to make myself believe that it's bad enough to take seriously. And no matter how many things I have, how nice to me people are because of my dad, how nice to me people are because they love and care about me, if I feel a certain way, a certain not nice way, then how much can rationally trying to explain these things to myself do? Shouldn't I instead get up and try and fix things? And if I can't do that for myself? Shouldn't I ask for help?”
She then clarified that Aamir Khan and his ex-wife Reena Dutta's divorce had no role to play in "traumatising" her and that they are still friends and perfect parents to her and her brother Junaid.
"When I was small, my parents got divorced. But that didn't seem like something that would traumatise me because my parents' divorce was amicable. They are friends, the whole family is still friends. We are not a broken family by any means. My parents were very good about being parents to Junaid and me, even after divorce and when people would say 'Oh I am so sorry to hear about your parents' divorce, I would be like 'What are you talking about? It is not a bad thing. Another privilege I didn't realise. It could be something that could scar you. It didn't scar me. I don't remember most of it but I didn't feel like my parents' divorce is something that could bother me. So that can't be the reason why I am feeling so sad."
On workfront, Ira Khan made her directorial debut last year, with a theatrical adaptation of Euripides' Medea, which starred Hazel Keech in the titular role.
