Sonali Bendre tells Madhuri Dixit why she chose to love her body during cancer battle despite immense pain

Speaking at the premiere of Kon Honar Crorepati, Sonali Bendre explained that treating her body with love helped her cope with cancer.

Sonali Bendre has been open about her battle with cancer and recently spoke about her approach to dealing with the disease. At the grand premiere of Kon Honar Crorepati, the Marathi version of Kaun Banega Crorepati hosted by Madhuri Dixit, the actor reflected on how the experience changed her perspective on her body and life.

Sonali Bendre spoke about cancer battle on Kon Honar Crorepati.

During the episode, Madhuri lauded Sonali for battling and overcoming cancer. Sonali, however, offered a different perspective, explaining that she had never chosen to look at the experience as a battle. Instead, she focused on understanding her body, treating it with love and learning from one of the most challenging phases of her life.

Sonali Bendre on the lessons she learnt from cancer

Sharing her experience of dealing with cancer, Sonali said, “I mean, you know, actually, we always say that someone has overcome cancer. But, all jokes apart, we say all these things while laughing and joking. But at that time, the actual intention was not to overcome it. It was to understand why this was happening and what I could learn from it. And trust me, I actually learnt a lot from it. And that is how I looked at it.”

‘Difficult to love something that was giving you so much pain’

Sonali shared that her approach to the disease involved changing how she viewed her body and the pain she was experiencing. She explained why the language of fighting or overcoming cancer felt negative to her.

She said, “Because I feel that when we say we have overcome something, it somehow feels like a fight. There is a sense of negativity somewhere. And, after all, it is our own body, isn’t it? The cancer cells are also our own cells. So, how can we fight ourselves? So how do I love my body the way it is? And I thought that maybe I should treat it with love. It’s very difficult to love something that was giving you so much pain. But I think that’s probably what worked for me. And that’s where it went.”

About Sonali Bendre’s cancer journey

Sonali was diagnosed with high-grade metastatic cancer in July 2018 and announced the news publicly through a social media post. She subsequently travelled to New York for treatment and continued to share updates about her experience with fans. She also spoke about the physical and emotional challenges of the diagnosis in interviews. She achieved remission and was declared cancer-free in 2021.

About Sonali Bendre’s upcoming projects

After overcoming cancer, Sonali made a comeback to acting. She has continued to explore different roles across films and television. She recently appeared in the web shows like Raakh and The Broken News. She also hosts reality game show Pati Patni Aur Panga with comedian Munawar Faruqui.