I'm not a rebel, I'm real': Ash on battling Body shaming and more

The growing paparazzi and fashion police culture demands everyone to look good all the time. Does that make things difficult?

When I came out of the hospital (after delivering Aaradhya), I could have had the perfectly blow-dried hair. I could have thought about looking a certain way because I was stepping out and I knew that photographers would be waiting to click my pictures. But I didn't do any of that. I'm not a fool or new to visibility. There are so many times I have seen people comment on my airport pictures, asking why I'm not changing my hairstyle. I feel like telling them, Hello, it's obvious that I am not playing into that?' I might apply lipstick and eyeliner, but that's normal for most women when they step out. Whether you choose to put a coloured lipstick or not, it's again your choice. Just because you put an eyeliner and a lipper, you aren't fake. Similarly, if you are just clean-faced and wrap a shawl around, you aren't intellectual either. I could be doing everything else on the turf because I know enough professionals here but I choose not to go that way. Which is why you see me practically wearing overcoats all the time because that's what I like. But yes, if someone professionally expects something else out of me, then I'll do it because it's the call of the occasion. I'm not a rebel but at the same time, I'm real.

You, too, were fat-shamed after delivering your daughter Aaradhya...

When I became a mother, it was the most beautiful feeling in the world. There were several hormonal changes within, but it didn't change anything. And way before all this, whenever people would ask me fashion or trend-based questions, I'd always tell them to be comfortable in their skin. At least now you know I meant it and it wasn't just for the quote (smiles). I believed it when I said that positivity is so much more than negativity and it can help to ease the crushing impacts of that. Be your best friend and in being so, be brutally honest to yourself. Sometimes, when you are down, you need to reach out to those people who you think can connect with you and comfort you enough.