13 Actresses We Salute For Standing Their Ground And Breaking Barriers This Women’s Day!

As International Women’s Day is just a couple of weeks away (March 8), we must take a moment to celebrate the women who entertain us. These beauties have been gracing our screens for years and working hard through rain and shine! But their journeys have not always been as glamourous as we assume. Many actresses have gone through terrible things and come out stronger from their experiences. Here’s a list of some of the Zee beauties who went through hell only to rise like a phoenix from the ashes.

Juhi Parmar

Hamariwali Good News actress Juhi Parmar is a single mother in real life. She was married to TV actor Sachin Shroff for nine years after which the couple decided to part ways, citing issues of ‘incompatibility.’ But, Sachin in some statements made it out be Juhi’s fault that their marriage did not work by calling it a “loveless” one and his statements resulted in a lot of emotional torture for Juhi and her family. The actress felt angered and ashamed that her character was maligned. Finally, she decided to put out an official statement on the same. She had to go through a lot after her divorce and she has often talked about how her parents, especially her mother has been her backbone. She raises her daughter, Samairra alone with the help of her parents and also works on a show, full-time now! We salute this strong woman!

Here’s an adorable picture of Juhi with her daughter that will make you go aww…

Sriti Jha

When she is not playing Pragya on Kumkum Bhagya, she is out travelling the world alone, writing and reciting poetry and hanging with her friends. Last year she recited a poem, “Confessions of a Romantic Asexual” and came out publicly as an asexual. She made people understand her through a very personal poem and many of her fans applauded her for her bravery. It is difficult to talk about such issues and we are so in awe of Sriti for doing it!

Watch her poem here:

Sunny Leone

Sunny Leone’s life has been very difficult. Her series, Karenjit Kaur talks about the kind of issues she has faced and how her family shunned her for the choices she made. Even after she became successful, in India she was not treated with enough respect and was sexualised for years. People could not separate her work as a porn star from her image and this led to a lot of problems for the actress and her husband, but now she is so much stronger and she is also a mother to three adorable kids!

Her happy family looks adorable, doesn’t it?

Jennifer Winget

The Code M actress, who married her co-star Karan Singh Grover divorced him after three years of togetherness. She was constantly in the news and her divorce became a topic for public discussion as there were rumours that Karan left her for Bollywood actress, Bipasha Basu. She was constantly compared to her and scrutinized and it was a really tough time for her! But look at her now! She is happily single, enjoys spending time with her friends and family and she has also worked on really great projects, all of which has garnered her more support, love and success. Today this beauty is one of the biggest stars of Indian TV and we could not feel more inspired!

Take a look at this beauty living her best life!

Dalljiet Kaur

This Guddan Tumse Na Ho Payega actress was once in an extremely bad marriage with actor Shaleen Bhanot. He is rumoured to have tried to strangle her and blackmail her for dowry. She slipped into depression after her divorce but bounced back after a huge body transformation. She is now a single mother to a beautiful baby boy and looks absolutely gorgeous too!

Here’s a photo of Dalljiet with her son Jaydon!

Shweta Tiwari

The Hum Tum and Them actress Shweta Tiwari has also been through a very bad time due to her first marriage when she was playing the role of Prerna in Kausautii Zindagi Kay. Producer Ekta Kapoor reportedly helped her out during that tough phase in her life. Her ex-husband was allegedly violent and the actress was traumatised for a long time. She was a single mother to her daughter for many years before she married again. When she was pregnant for the second time with her second husband, she made headlines for a late pregnancy! But she powered through the hate comments and is a wonderful mother of two!

Take a look at this powerful and adorable mom of two!

Dia Mirza 

The actress is known for her beauty and for being soft-spoken. She has been an ambassador for many important causes both nationally and internationally. She and her longtime business partner Sahil Sangha got married in 2014 but announced their separation in 2019. They were actually together for 11 years. But this personal crisis did not hamper Dia’s professional career as she produced a lot of projects and even acted in some like Kaafir. She healed her heart and married businessman Vaibhav Rekhi earlier last week in a quiet ceremony. We hope she finds all the love and strength!

Karisma Kapoor

One of the most famous actresses of her time, Karisma Kapoor had a rather bad marriage. She was married to Sunjay Kapoor for 13 years after which she formally decided to file for divorce. It was alleged that her husband was physically abusive towards her. He was still involved with his first wife during his marriage with Karishma and even assaulted her a few times. We are extremely happy to see how great the actress is doing post her divorce and how she’s taking care of her two kids! She has made a come back as an actor in the web series, Mentalhood and we cannot wait to see more of her.

She’s also extremely adorable and real on her Instagram. Look:

Harleen Sethi

Harleen Sethi was rumoured to be dating Vicky Kaushal for quite a while before they broke up. Vicky Kaushal achieved a lot of fame after the release of his movie Uri: The Surgical Strike and media portrayed her to be the girl Vicky used and left behind after his newfound stardom. Harleen rubbished these rumours in a couple of interviews and made it clear that she is over it! She still has her head in the game and her web series Broken But Beautiful proves exactly that!    

And also, she’s too busy loving herself!

Mona Singh

Black Widows actress Mona Singh broke a lot of stereotypes when she announced that she froze her eggs at 34 and feels “free” to do whatever she likes. She broke societal norms and did not care about the public and the media looking at her differently. Instead, she chose what she wanted. The actress believes that she is not ready in her mind to have children just yet and wants to spend this time travelling with her husband. When she feels ready she can always conceive because she has frozen her eggs! This freedom has made her feel amazing and we could not be happier for the actress!

Gul Panag

Actress Gul Panag has been married to her pilot boyfriend, Rishi Attari since 2011 and she gave birth at the age of 39! For women who worry about biological clocks, Gul Panag broke a lot of stereotypes by conceiving at such a “late” period in her life.  The actress is reportedly to have talked about how women should only welcome a baby in their lives when they are ready for it and not worry about when society wants them to. More power to this wonderful woman!

Don’t Gul and baby Nihal look absolutely amazing?

Richa Chaddha

Bollywood tried to typecast her and failed because she is so versatile. On the internet, trolls try to degrade her for sharing her opinions but this Lahore Confidential actress takes none of it! The actress also takes part in movies that talk about and shed light on relevant issues and this too gets her in trouble. She might get trolled for most of her opinions on relevant issues, but she speaks her mind and even hits out on her trolls with clap-worthy one-liners!  The actress was even trolled for not speaking up on the Sushant Singh Rajut case.

She truly is a queen in all measures!

Mandira Bedi

Mandira Bedi has been one of the most popular faces on Indian TV for two decades now. She has been an actress and a presenter and has garnered a lot of love over the years. She is known for her fit physique that has still stayed on point to this date. But this too, had become something that she was really trolled for. Mandira was body shamed and trolled for posting pictures of herself with stunning muscles and a very athletic body. Many people on the internet called her “manly” and there were several memes that were made on her. But instead of letting this get to her, the actress focused on her body and is one of the fittest women in the industry at the age of 48!

Doesn’t she look her gorgeous best?

We hope these women keep inspiring us both on and off the screen! For more, visit ZEE5.