On Thursday, Anupam Kher shared a video along with Mahima Chaudhry where the actress revealed how she battled breast cancer. While most people were shocked by what she shared, what came as a huge relief is that not only has she recovered completely, but she is also back at work. In a conversation with BT, Mahima opens up about her journey and what kept her going. Excerpts:

I will be happy if my story is used as an inspiration because I, too, used other people’s journeys to inspire me. Even when Sanjay Dutt was battling cancer, he was on set going on with his life, and his story inspired me. I decided that’s how I wanted to be. Sanjay Dutt, Mahesh Manjrekar and I, we all did a film together called Kurukshetra (2000), and strangely, all of us had to battle cancer around the same time. Sonali Bendre, Manisha Koirala and Tahira Kashyap their stories inspired me. Tennis champion Martina Navratilova was diagnosed with breast cancer years ago. She continued going to the matches and doing commentary while she underwent radiation. In fact, she played a match 12 days after her surgery. I was telling this to my daughter (Ariana), and she said, “Mama, sit up, we can play Ludo.” So, we played ludo (smiles)! We tried to stay spirited like that. Many actors called me and said, “We just met you four weeks back, and you were fine, and your hair was fine.” I told them that I was wearing a wig. My manager was like, “So you were doing all the photoshoots at home with a wig?” Not everyone knew, so they treated me normally.

It has been a psychological battle. I was diagnosed with cancer during a simple annual check-up at the end of 2021. I was told to undergo further tests. My treatment lasted for four months. I have completed my treatment in Mumbai, and I think I have recovered completely, but it was a difficult journey and the emotions are bound to stay with you for a while. I can’t even begin to tell you how difficult the treatment was for me. I don’t want to talk about that because I don’t want people to get rattled by it. It is curable, so I don’t want anyone to be afraid of the treatment. I want people to know that I am on the set working now and I am fine. I want women to know that they can fully recover. That’s the message I want to give. I want people to know their bodies and know that cancer is curable today. Even an educated person like me was rattled when I first heard about it. It shouldn’t rattle people. Medicine is so advanced today that you need to stay positive once you are diagnosed with cancer. There are endless treatments, so you should not be afraid.

I am glad I first shared it with Anupam. His support has been so strong that now everyone has been calling to check on me. There have been endless messages and I want to thank everyone who reached out. I was going to share my story eventually. Of course, my friends knew, but not my parents. My mother was there for me when I told her I had surgery, but she didn’t know what it was for. I kept the information from them because it gets difficult for me to take care of her while taking care of myself. So, I thought, let me get over with the treatment so I can break the news to them later on and deal with it in a better way. It’s hard to be sick and deal with so many responsibilities.

All the women who I met during my treatment said that they would go back to work the next day. It made me feel normal. The process is difficult, so it’s good to have supportive people around you and also, your work helps you get your mind off what’s going on with your body. When you are feeling low and lying down, you just want your mother to hold you and tell you, “Beta thodasa khalo.” because you can’t even eat a morsel. At that time, it was my daughter who did that for me. Even if it’s a small piece of bread. She would say, “Mama, just put it in your mouth.” If my child told me to eat, even if I couldn’t, I would still eat it. I wanted her to feel that I am fine and I am brave. I would put on an act in front of her. I sent her off to my sister’s place as I didn’t want her to see me like that, but she always came back. She was by my side throughout. The only people who I would have wanted to know about my story were my parents. Rest, all my friends, be it in America, Chandigarh or Delhi, knew about it. They flew down to be with me. I had the support of everyone so I could go on with my business.