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DNA (April 8, 2015)

Actress Poorna Jagannathan of Delhi Belly fame opened up about her horrific experience of being sexually abused as a child. The actress, producer and daughter of a diplomat, has shared her experience of sexual abuse as a child and a young adult. In the video, which is part of a series shot for a project with the World Bank, WEvolve, Poorna gave a powerful speech about how she dealt with her father who was an alchoholic and later about her sexual abuse at the age of nine.

“My childhood was bit of a roller-coaster, it was a very privileged childhood, very fairy tale childhood, many aspects especially on paper. My father suffered from alcoholism. We were told to keep it under wraps as much as possible. My first encounter with sexual violence was probably when I was nine. There was a neighbour and family friend who got his hands on me. He obviously told me not to tell anyone. I have encountered so many incidents as a child and as a young adult. They were violent but I wouldn’t speak about it. There was a code that you wouldn’t talk about it,” Poorna said in her video.

Coincidentally, Poorna was recently in the news for producing the play Nirbhaya, by Yael Farber that cracked open the cone of silence on the staggering depth and breadth of violence perpetrated against women in India.