New Delhi: Bollywood actress Preity Zinta took to Instagram to share two incidents where she and her family were harassed by civilians. The mother of two said that two such events happened this week and it has left her shaken.
She slammed a woman for clicking the picture of her infant daughter without permission and kissing the child. She asserted that the children are not a package deal that comes with her or a celebrity. Speaking about the second incident, she said a man in a wheelchair harassed her for not giving him cash and threw back the money her companion gave because he considered it "not enough".
The actress wrote, "Regarding my daughter Gia, where a woman tried to take her photo. When we politely asked her not to, she walked away. Then suddenly scooped my daughter in her arms & planted a big wet kiss next to her mouth & ran off saying what a cute baby. This woman lives in an elite building & happened to be in the garden where my kids were playing."
Preity said that if she wasn't a celebrity, she would have reacted differently. "If I wasn’t a celebrity I probably would have reacted badly but kept my cool as I didn’t want to make a scene."
To share the second incident, she posted a video taken by the paparazzi who were giggling at the incident. They also did not stop the man in the wheelchair when he started knocking on the moving car. The actress said that he could have fallen and if an accident happens, she will be blamed because the other person is handicapped.
"You can see the 2nd incident here. I had a plane to catch & this handicapped man kept trying to stop me. Over the years he has harassed me for money & I have given it to him when I could. This time when he asked for money I said sorry today I have no cash, just a credit card. The lady with me gave him some money from her purse. He threw it back at her cuz it wasn’t enough & started getting aggressive. As you can see he followed us for some time & got more aggressive, wrote Preity.
"The photographers found this incident funny. Instead of helping us they filmed & laughed. NO ONE told him not to follow the car or harass us as anyone could have gotten hurt. Had there been an accident, I would have been blamed. My being a celebrity would have been questioned. Bollywood would have been blamed & a lot of negativity would have spread," she added.
The actress asked people to realise that celebrities are also humans and she does not need to apologise for her success or be bullied for it. She asserted that she has a right to live like everyone else.
"I think it’s high time people realise that I’m a human being first, then a mom & then a celebrity. I also don’t need to apologise for my success constantly & be bullied for it cuz I’ve worked very hard to get where I am. I have an equal right like anyone else in this country to live the way I want so please think before you judge & please stop blaming celebrities for everything. There are always two sides to a story."
She then drew attention to the incident with her baby and asserted that the children are not a package deal and should not be prayed upon. The 48-year-old asked people to treat her children as "infants, not celebrities''. "Most importantly my children are NOT part of a package deal & are not meant to be preyed on so please Leave my kids alone & don’t come to them for photos or touch/grab them. They are infants & need to be treated like infants, not celebrities."
She also asked photographers to ask celebrities for photos, videos, and soundbites while having the grace, humanity, and maturity to act and help in the future. She told them that most things they are laughing at are not funny.