Meghan Markle, known for playing paralegal Rachel Zane on the hit TV drama Suits, has been all over the news recently — for her life off-screen though. The African-American actress is already a popular face, but recent news that she is dating Prince Harry has got her overwhelming international fame... but not quite all positive. A few media houses churned out articles, which entailed comment pieces with racial undertones much to the dismay of the Prince, who has spoken out hastily to defend her — and criticise the public vitriol Meghan has been subjected to.
There are many such domestic examples. The example that instantly comes to mind is that of Virat Kohli and his girlfriend Anushka Sharma. Every time Virat would underperform, social media buzzed with posts claiming that it was Anushka’s fault. Her presence in the stadium was termed a ‘bad omen’ — eventually Virat came out and batted for Anushka.
Also, many times significant others of celebs — who are not celebrities themselves — have been collateral damage of their (alleged) lover’s fame. Zooming into K’town, director Vignesh Sivan and Nayanthara are classic victims, with the former put through the wringer for his rumoured relationship with the actress.
National award-winning actress Priyamani’s tweet about her engagement with Mustfa Raj, a businessman, was received with hate posts — which were met by a befitting reply from the star, retorting that it’s her life and that she is not answerable to anyone but her parents.
When contacted, the Paruthiveeran actress says, “There was one more instance when I took it to social media, asking people to stop encroaching upon the privacy of others in my life. A website said that I was in a relationship with a Malayalam show host, and I didn’t react to it. The next day, my mom was asked about that person and she said she didn’t know him!”
Akshara Gowda of Arambam fame, was relatively new to the modelling industry when she was linked with cricketer Yuvaraj Singh. The speculation turned a lot of eyes towards the actress. “I was very young and became nervous and scared when that news broke out. But, Yuvi stood by me. He said, ‘Come on, it is part and parcel of this field, and we know we are good friends’. By then, he was used to the limelight and had already handled rumours about him and Kim Sharma. Now we simply joke about these things and laugh.”
Actress Raai Laxmi also has her own share of such experiences — “I have faced a lot of discomfort and tension. However, till you reach a certain stage in your career you can’t defend yourself. And that silence has been exploited and misused.”
Laxmi was relatively new to the industry when the rumours about MS Dhoni and her broke, and she says it was a better decision from her side not to reply to such news — “I was silent because I didn’t want to react. And even without my reaction, it was spoken about for a long time. I can only imagine what would have happened if I had reacted to them.”
Not only boyfriends and better-halves of celebrities, sometimes, even their siblings are pulled into the media circus. The Mankatha actress reveals, “Once there was news that my younger sister was making her debut in acting, when she wasn’t. And there were few times when my friends were under constant watch by the media.”
Psychologist Dr Mini Rao claims that this interest over the personal life of celebs is a kind of voyeurism — “As humans, we are voyeuristic in nature. We like to watch things just to entertain ourselves. Maybe it’s because we live a mundane life. We need such entertainment even if it is at the expense of others; at those times we become inhuman. It basically makes us happy in a perversive kind of way. Also, humans are keener in knowing about another person’s life.”
