Khushbu Sundar: "My Father Sexually Abused Me; Felt Hitting Wife & Children Was His Birth Right."

Actress Khushbu Sundar (Khusboo Sundar), who recently took charge as a member of the National Commission for Women (NCW), made a startling revelation about the sexual assault she faced for years as a child.

A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s National Executive Committee, Khushbu was given an elevation from party leader to a constitutional post at the national level.

Taking part in the 'We The Women Townhall' programme hosted by journalist Bharkha Dutt, Khushbu shared her harrowing story of being a victim of sexual abuse by a person within the family.

She revealed she had been sexually abused by her father since she was eight years old. The abuse continued till she reached the age of 15 and spoke up against him after mustering courage.

"The toughest thing which took me long to not forget and not forgive but put behind me and move forward was the abuse I faced from my father as a child. When a child is abused it scars the child for life and not many people can come out of that," she said.

"My mother has been through the most abusive marriage with a man who probably thought it was his birthright to beat up his wife, and children and sexually abuse his only daughter. And when my abuse was started I was just eight years old and I dared to speak against him when I was 15," Khushbu said.

"I reached a stage where I had to stand up against him. One fear I had was that my mom may not believe me because 'husband is god' for her. At 15, I thought that was enough and at 16 he left us," she added explaining how she fought the abuse. Khushbu has three brothers.

Khushbu is one of the top female leads in the Tamil film industry and was worshipped by fans when she hogged the limelight. Fans also built a temple for her in Tamil Nadu.

She is married to director C. Sundar. She joined the DMK party before defecting to Congress and then BJP. She is seen on Telugu entertainment channel ETV's popular comedy show Jabardasth, as a guest, along with writer-comedian-director Krishna Bhagavaan.