Former Miss India Celina Jaitley never shies away from putting out her opinion on social media. Recently, Celina alleged that she received death threats for supporting the LGBTQIA movement. Speaking to Masala, she also said her sexuality was questioned.
Sharing about the passing away of her gay makeup artist, she said her death shook her as she was a mother figure to her. “Probier Da (Celina’s make-up artist) was a mother figure to me in my struggling years as a 15-year-old model. He was my fairy godfather. His death shook me. His last conversation with me, just a week prior to her passing away, was about his fears of old age as a gay man, of not having children or a life partner, and his wanting to see me get married to a nice man. All his life had been spent in pursuit of happiness, which he could never achieve due to the stigma associated with being gay. While all his fears went away in one tragic incident, it changed something inside me forever,” she said.
Talking about receiving death threats for supporting the LGBTQ community, the former actor said even LGBTQIA colleagues from the industry disappointed her. She would also hire extra personal security after receiving death threats, she said.
“I received threats from people around the country. Even LGBTQIA colleagues from the film industry turned their backs on me because they were worried any association with me would make their identities vulnerable to exposure. I supported LGBTQIA organisations, events, and film festivals despite the threats. Due to the dangerous threats, I’d to hire extra personal security amounting to lakhs at my expense in order to continue my work. Some organizations I supported let me down when 377 was revoked. I was also hurt by the very people I stood up for when no one wanted to associate themselves with the community. From being questioned about my own sexuality to threats from extremists and being dropped from friend circles and films, I’ve experienced it all,” Celina said.
Celina Jaitley won the Femina Miss India title in 2001 and ended up as the 4th runner-up at Miss Universe the same year. Following her beauty pageant stints, she made her acting debut with Janasheen in 2003 and went on to do films like Golmaal Returns, Apna Sapna Money-Money, No-Entry, and others.
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