Cried for an entire night after Cancer diagnosis: Sonali Bendre

Actress Sonali Bendre reveals that she spent an entire night crying when she was diagnosed with cancer, while her husband Goldie Behl helped her cope with the devastating news.

In July 2018, Sonali shared that she was diagnosed with “high-grade cancer” following which she underwent treatment in New York.

Sonali recently appeared on a talk show alongside her friend and entrepreneur Sussanne Khan. The actress shared her initial journey through cancer on the show.

“After I spent the entire night coming to terms with it, I got up and decided now no more crying and weeping. From now on, there will be happiness. I saw the sun coming up, clicked a picture and shared it with my family and my girls, and said, ‘Girls, Switch on the Sunshine”

View this post on Instagram

“I knew that if I allowed fear to overtake me, my journey was doomed. Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story from the one women are told. I decided I was safe. I was strong. I was brave. Nothing could vanquish me.” – Cheryl Strayed, Wild. Over the past couple of months, I have had good days and bad ones. There have been days when I’ve been so exhausted and in so much pain that even lifting a finger hurt. I feel like sometimes it’s a cycle… one that starts off with physical pain and leads to mental and emotional pain. The bad days have been many… Post chemo, post-surgery and the like… where even just laughing hurts. Sometimes it felt like it took everything I’ve had to push past it… a minute to minute battle with myself. I got through it knowing that even though I was fighting a long drawn out, draining battle… it was one that was worth the fight. It’s important to remember that we’re allowed to have those bad days. Forcing yourself to be happy and cheerful all the time serves no purpose. Who are we being fake and putting on an act for? I allowed myself to cry, to feel the pain, to indulge in self-pity… for a short while. Only you know what you’re going through and it is fine to accept it. Emotions aren’t wrong. Feeling negative emotions isn’t wrong. But after a point, identify it, recognize it and refuse to let it control your life. It takes an immense amount of self-care to get out of that zone. Sleep always helps, or having my favourite smoothie after chemo, or just talking to my son. For now, as my treatment continues… my visual focus remains to just get better and get back home. It’s yet another test… Student all my life… Learning all my life… #OneDayAtATime ?: @srishtibehlarya

A post shared by Sonali Bendre (@iamsonalibendre) on Oct 8, 2018 at 11:19pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

This is me. And in this moment, I am really happy. People give me strange looks when I say that now, but it’s true and I’ll tell you why. I am now paying attention to every moment, looking for every opportunity to find joy and #SwitchOnTheSunshine. Yes, there are moments of pain and low energy, but I am doing what I like, spending time with people I love, and feeling very loved and happy. I am extremely grateful to my friends, my pillars of strength, who at a moment’s notice, arrived to be with me and help me through this. In between their busy schedules they find time to visit, call, message, FaceTime… basically never leaving a moment for me to feel alone. Thank you for showing me what true friendship is. #HappyFriendshipDay, ladies. Blessed to have you all in my life (including the ones not in the picture… You know who you are) @gayatrioberoi @suzkr P.S. Nowadays I spend far less time getting ready because I don’t have to fuss over my hair! ?#BaldIsBeautiful #FindThePositive #OneDayAtATime Picture credit: @hrithikroshan

A post shared by Sonali Bendre (@iamsonalibendre) on Aug 4, 2018 at 10:28pm PDT

“Goldie and I are married for 16 years. And when I came to know about cancer, I realised Goldie is the most important person I care about,” Sonali said.

To which Sussanne added: “Our kids are so mature and understanding, they were there with Ranveer (Sonali’s son) all the time.”

Sonali also shared an anecdote about her time in New York with her friends when she was going through treatment for cancer.

“We decided, let’s make the most of this. We spent some time in New York. We were there with kids. They were amazing. The girls (Sussanne and Gayatri) went, dropped the kids to school, and came back. Then it was just us and we really enjoyed the city. There was a little bit of chemo, surgery has thrown in between but we had fun.”

Talking about the current film industry, Sonali said: “I love the stories that are being told now. With multiplexes coming, there is so much diversity. Now you have stories that are being told in different ways.”

WeMagazine