Actor Anjali Anand, known for Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (2023), recently opened up about a traumatic childhood experience. She recalled how a dance teacher “dictated her life” and that her first boyfriend “saved her.”

The 33-year-old said, “I didn’t know what to do. I was eight, just after my dad passed. He told me, ‘I am your dad,’ and I believed him because I didn’t know any better. Then he started very slowly — he gave me a peck on my lips and said, ‘It is what dads do.’”

Anjali, who was seen recently in Dabba Cartel, told Hauterrfly that this teacher also controlled how she dressed, and this behaviour continued till she turned 14 years old. “He used to keep tabs on my itemised billing — he knew what messages I was sending. He caught me talking to this guy. He used to wait outside my school to pick me up. And everybody was like, ‘Why is he always there?’ But nobody even tried to see why,” she said.

The actor said that she only started to feel “normal” when she met her boyfriend: “When my sister got married and my dad’s best friend’s son came to the wedding, he had a crush on me and started talking to me. That’s when I thought, ‘This feels normal.’ I just felt stuck.”