Sushmita Sen, 18, was crowned the new Miss Universe 1994.
Sushmita Sen was not only the first Miss Universe from India but also set the stage for future beauty queens.
Sushmita Sen was not only the first Miss Universe from India but also set the stage for future beauty queens. In fact, by adopting two young girls, Renee and Alisah, she challenged societal norms and inspired many women to carve their paths. Despite her big achievements, Sushmita faced a lot of criticism in the 90s for her choices that were not acceptable in society at that time. In a recent chat with actress Rhea Chakraborty on her YouTube channel, Sushmita opened up about being judged for her outspoken nature during a less accepting time. She also shared that her parents had advised her to be very careful during interviews and advised her against using the word “sex”.
“The society was not as open as today. It was like ‘haw.’ Everything was ‘haww’ to the extent that my Maa and Baba had to sit me down and say, ‘There is a lot riding on your shoulders and curb a little bit of what you’re saying. Why use the word ‘sex’ in an interview at 18? Shobhaa De’s writing badly about you.’ And I remember her name coming up specifically, you know, Bengali. Bengalis are considered intellectual. So, it was the intellectual articles that were bothering and not the gossip ones,” she said during the chat.
Sushmita later spoke with Shobhaa De and intentionally used the word ‘sex’ to show she was breaking societal norms. “I purposely brought up the word because everything that I wanted to be was not ‘Miss Universe’, or ‘the most beautiful person.’ I wanted to be a liberated human being, someone who is truly free. In that attempt, I became India’s first Miss Universe. It was that freedom that let me do it. Now that I won it, everyone was trying to curb that freedom because so much of the onus lies on you for so many things,” she added.
Sushmita recently made a big comeback to showbiz with acclaimed shows like Aarya and Taali.
