Actor Vijay Deverakonda recently opened up about the time his Kushi co-star, actor Samantha, was diagnosed with myositis. The actor revealed that Samantha stopped talking to and meeting people during the diagnosis period, when she was also battling several other things.

Deverakonda said he got to know about Samantha’s diagnosis in July last year. However, the latter was not in a position to talk about the auto-immune condition.

Deverakonda said at a promotional event, “I told Sam that we are actors and storytellers. I felt we did not have to talk about our struggles in the open. But after a point, Samantha felt it was her responsibility to talk about her health. She stopped talking to us and stopped seeing all of us. She was extremely unwell. She fought so many battles. At that point, she decided to share it with everyone, just to tell people that there’s hope.”

He added that he wants to see Samantha smile. “We started this film (Kushi) in April 2022 with smiles on our faces. We had completed 60% [of the shoot]. Only 30-35% was pending. By July, Sam’s health condition deteriorated. She said her health wasn’t good. Shiva (director Shiva Nirvana) and I were like ‘You look beautiful. What problem do you have?’ We took it lightly. Later, we understood her plight.”

Samantha is currently on a break from work.