Actress Parvathy pens an emotional note on surviving Bulimia

Check out Parvathy's Instagram post:

"Thank you for smiling! (TW:body shaming, eating disorder). I’d spent years controlling my smile. People I worked with used to deem it appropriate to constantly comment on how my cheeks were ‘too full’ when I smiled, that my jaw-line wasn’t as sharp as they wanted it to be. I’d stopped smiling. Controlled, painful sputters of expressions, for years. I had started eating alone at work and other events, because some never held back from watching how much I served on my plate. They would go so far as telling me to cut back WHILE I ATE. I couldn’t swallow another bite.

“Did you put on since I last saw you?”
“You need to tone down a bit”
“Oh you’ve lost weight! Good!”
“Aren’t you supposed to be dieting?”
“You’re going to eat THAT too?!”
“I’ll tell your dietician you had one more chapati!”
“Go back to looking like you did in that movie Maryan no!”

Not a single aspect of my body was spared from the ‘oh but I mean well’/ ‘learn to take a joke’ commentary. I’d internalised and validated it so much that I even found myself making such comments.For this, I am truly, deeply sorry. No matter how hard I tried to shield myself, these words eventually seeped in. Soon enough, I spiralled down an extreme case of #bulimia .

It’s taken me years to get here. With the help of some amazing friends, an amazing fitness coach, and therapists, I find myself smiling a full smile again. Please hold space for yourself and others to.. just be. Spare us your jokes, your commentary, your opinions on others’ bodies. No matter how ‘well’ you mean for it be. No. Just . To all those who are healing, thank you for smiling! #thankyouforsmiling #eatingdisorderrecovery #bulimiasurvivor"

On the work front, Parvathy Thiruvothu was recently seen in the Tamil anthology 'Navarasa' that had the actress playing the role of 'Waheeda' in the segment called 'Inmai', which also starred Siddharth. 'Navarasa' is streaming on Netflix.