Shibani Dandekar reveals struggle with body image issues: ‘I hated my pimpled skin, my love handles, my overall size’

Television host, singer and actor Shibani Dandekar has opened up about her struggles with body image and said that there was a point when she ‘absolutely (hated)’ the way she looked. She tried to achieve an ‘unrealistic’ beauty ideal but eventually learned to accept herself the way she was.

In an interview with Cosmopolitan, Shibani said, “I have been on an incredible journey with my body. One that began with me absolutely hating it every single day to the point that it had consumed me! I hated my pimpled skin, my love handles, my overall size… It is only now that I look back and understand how incredibly strong my body was and how accepting its size as my strength would have changed my entire perception,” she said.

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Shibani is not hundred percent certain that she has overcome her insecurities, but she has definitely brought about a change in her thought process. “Acceptance is everything. I own it and never give people the chance to put me in a position that can make me uncomfortable,” she said, adding that coming to this acceptance was not easy.

“I have been very hard on myself and strived for unrealistic goals of perfection. Once I started eating right and exercising regularly, I realised that I had done everything I could possibly do and this is the body I was given…and I must embrace it,” she said.

Shibani, who has acted in films such as Shaandaar and Noor, was last seen in the second season of the Amazon Prime Video series Four More Shots Please! The show, which also starred Sayani Gupta, Kirti Kulhari, Bani J and Maanvi Gagroo, became the most-watched Indian show on the streaming platform in May this year. It has been renewed for a third season.

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