Rochelle Rao: Beauty contests promote the wrong body image among girls

Actor Rochelle Rao, who was the winner of a beauty pageant in 2012, shares why she feels such contests have both a good and a bad side to them.

Most people remember actor Rochelle Rao from her appearance on season 9 of the reality show Bigg Boss and her subsequent stint on a popular comedy show. But not many know that she was the winner of a beauty pageant in 2012. The actor, who has looked back on her participation in such a contest critically, sees both positives and negatives in it.

Actor Rochelle Rao says that while she learned a lot of things at such contests, there was a downside too. (Yogen Shah)

“I don’t regret (participating in a beauty pageant). This is the platform that taught me how to carry myself and talk to people. There’s nothing wrong in learning how to groom oneself. I learnt how to even do make-up there!” says the 28-year-old, who had recently carried out a campaign on social media against body-shaming and the obsession with looks.

When it comes to the negative factors, Rochelle recalls, “There were a lot of people who had unhealthy diets at the competition. We would tell them not to be so strict about their diets. Some would sneak in some junk food (laughs) which we were not supposed to have.” Rochelle agrees that beauty contests promote unreal body image, and breed an obsession for looking fit, which could lead to serious health problems, too.

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