#MeToo: Aditi Rao Hydari Says She Lost Work For Eight Months Because Of A Choice She Had To Make

The MeToo Movement in India lit up like forest fire, giving a much needed platform for victims of sexual misconduct to share their stories and take down their offenders who had been running scot-free. It empowered many victims to come forward in an atmosphere of support provided by the movement. It brought up several shocking accusations, and saw many people from the entertainment industry taking stance against those accused, in whichever way they saw fit. The latest to share her MeToo experience from the Bollywood film industry was actress Aditi Rao Hydari, who said that she lost work for about eight months because of a choice she had to make.

Speaking at the India Today Conclave South 2018 in Vishakapatnam, Aditi Rao Hydari opened up about her MeToo experience from when she entered the film industry. She said, "I remember when I started, I was extra-naive because I came from a protected background. I didn't know that the rumours were true, that things like this did happen. And honestly, I have not had such a bad time. I had one incident which actually didn't harm me very much. But yes, I did lose work because I was given a choice - it's either this or this. For me, it was a no-brainer. I had to walk away,"

Talking about giving victims their space to make the decision regarding whether they want to open up or not, Aditi said, ""I think you should speak about something only when you are ready. And when you don't talk about it, people are like, 'Oh, they were paid off' or 'oh, they were silenced,"

Back in July, Aditi had talked about her casting couch experience to Sunday Guardian. She had said, "I did lose work and I cried about it. I didn't regret it but I cried about it because I felt so upset that this was true and this is how girls are treated. I was like, how dare someone speak to me like that! For about eight months (after the incident) I didn't get work, but I feel that decision made me stronger in my intention about the kind of work I wanted to do," she said.

Aditi has been vocal about the MeToo movement since the time it started. In October, Aditi posted a sarcastic tweet saying, "Slow clap for the dizzying heights of hypocrisy... People who are clearly guilty of major harassment giving gyaan on the #MeTooIndia movement...," (sic).