I will be hated for it but I don't conclude her 26 year ordeal as abuse either, nor is it gaslighting. It's just selective tolerance!!
When the show began, everyone in SH except Samar was either quiet or awful to Anupamaa, but that was heaven for her. She was super smitten by Vanraj, used to oogle at him like a teenager just hours after being rebuked by him and was willfully blind to any red flags, and not to forget her subservience to Leela inspite of her taunting her all the time.
ALL UNTIL VANYA EXPOSÉ!!
Everything, mind you, EVERYTHING about the behavior of Leela, Vanraj or her children was exactly the same before and after the Extra marital affair exposition. Infact it had gotten better. Vanraj was all considerate and mellow, Leela was slapping Vanraj, and Pakhi and Paritosh were openly supporting her. But she still chose divorce. And her justifications of the behavior of the Shahs being patriarchal came after that.
WHY??
Had Vanraj been a one woman man but had still continued to treat her like a doormat, would that have been acceptable? Isn't she insulting women who walk out of marriage just because they're not TREATED RIGHT, even if their husbands don't have any "textbook flaws" like smoking, drinking or sleeping around.
Let's give her the benefit of doubt that the EMA was not the only thing that offended her and it caused a butterfly effect in making her realize the other abuses she faced, like the slap was in the movie Thappad.
But even after the divorce, she blamed everything on Vanraj and wants to stay connected to other people who abused her, and even though they haven't rectified their behavior yet, she keeps coming back for more.
Isn't she justifying the abuse MILs do on DILs or the children who harrass their parents after growing up?
Isn't she also proving that she actually LIKED the abuse and it was only the EMA that made her move out?
5