Samantha: Living with Myositis

Learn English with Samantha Ruth Prabhu. In 2023, during a heartfelt Bollywood Bubble interview, Samantha opened up about her battle with myositis, the struggles of body shaming and trolling, and the lessons she learned through her film journey. From Shaakuntalam to Family Man 2, she reflects on resilience, acceptance, and sisterhood in cinema while sharing her personal growth.

Who This Speech Is For

• Learners who want to hear authentic conversations about resilience, health, and personal growth.

• Those interested in how celebrities cope with real-life struggles while pursuing their careers.

• Intermediate to advanced learners looking to expand vocabulary around health, emotions, and empowerment.

How This Speech Helps Your English

• Learn natural conversational English with emotional depth and empathy.

• Build vocabulary on health, resilience, and social change.

• Notice how personal storytelling makes ideas powerful and relatable.

• Understand how repetition and emphasis are used for impact.

Why This Speech Matters

• Samantha opens up about battling myositis, breaking stereotypes of perfection in the entertainment industry.

• Her words show the importance of acceptance, inner strength, and sisterhood in today’s world.

• The conversation highlights how public figures can inspire change by sharing vulnerabilities honestly.

Host: Welcoming Samantha Ruth Prabhu in conversation with me only on Bollywood Bubble and this is a conversation that I wanted to have for the longest time and thank you for doing this despite I know the kind of health issues that you are braving through to do this. To be very honest I understand it a little more than maybe others because I’ve been through the same. But honestly speaking Samantha thank you, thank you for doing this.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: You know I must thank you because you kept me relevant for 8 months. I remember you badgering every single guest of yours. One word about Samantha. One word about her. I was like oh my god, poor things. They don’t want to say one word about Samantha.

Host: No, I think they always wanted to say something. I have to tell you this. There was a selfish reason behind doing that as well because I didn’t tell you also till like 2 weeks ago that I was actually diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder myself. So every attack on you felt a little more personal. I would have come to that anyway. So when people were giving you love, I wanted you to feel loved because my doctor just told me that you should not stress. Emotional lows is something that you need to avoid. And I felt that from a distance, if I could just make you feel that you are loved by everybody around, that’s what I can do for you. So I just did that.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: Thank you. I felt it. I felt it a lot.

Host: I love you.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: Thank you.

Host: But Samantha, this movie is special. When I watched Yashoda, it was a very different kind of an experience. You spearheaded a movie and a very poignant one. This is an epic. And throughout this, you know, you’ve braved through so many personal battles. Was it difficult to just dabble between being an artist, being a human being and to make it happen?

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: Yeah, I think, yeah, it has been one personal struggle after another. But I’ve never asked, “Why me?” Because if I had asked God why me then I would also have to ask him why me for all of the good things that I have. For all of the love for all of the appreciation, so it’s not fair that I ask why me. But I also believe that we learn most from our lows. Dark times and I believe that there’s something to learn through this.

Host: Your Instagram bio is something that I swear by.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: I never thought that I would be living it every single day. Damn, I would never have put it up if it was gonna be so true.

Host: I think you manifested it.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: I manifested that damn thing.

Host: How difficult was it to shoot the entire process of Shakuntalam? It’s a difficult film. You have to have mudras, you have to have moves while you are battling myositis. It’s a difficult…

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: I did not get diagnosed during Shakuntalam. It wasn’t during Shakuntalam or Yashoda as well. It was after that. So when I was having personal struggles of another kind during Shakuntalam. Yes. So it wasn’t. Physically, I was fine.

Host: You have been a face of a big change. Whenever I speak to like you said a lot of your peers from that part of the world also, which is now become pan India. Thankfully we have got acceptance and thankfully you’ve been one of the biggest faces because with Family Man 2 I think there was a huge acceptance also. Most of them have always appreciated and acknowledged your bravado in spearheading that movement in a way. I don’t think you ever settled for that whole thing that I would play the typical heroine. You kind of paved way and a lot of women today, not just you, Kirti Suresh, Sai Pallavi, Rashmika Mandana, Pooja Hegde, a lot of those people from that side have actually taken that. Today women are not settling down for anything less. How do you see that movement happening right now?

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: I absolutely love it. A little girl came up to me and said, “I cancelled my dancing class and I’m going for karate training.” And I was like, “Yeah baby, you go.” So I think that… things are changing. Things are changing so drastically for women and our voices are changing. The need for a change in voice is so important right now. It’s important for women to be heard. It’s important for women to voice their wants. I think that this movement is only going to pick up speed.

Host: Did you at any point feel that your voices were not heard, especially when it came to the profession?

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: We didn’t have a voice. We didn’t have a voice. But I’m glad. I’m so glad that there’s so much of change. And even with all of my personal struggles, yes, there’s been criticism and there’s been trolling. But there’s also been so much support, support that a few years back I don’t think would have been possible. I really don’t think… there has been a lot of support. There has been a lot of women coming to me saying, acceptance. There’s a lot of acceptance, not just young girls, girls my age, also from a lot of older women, which is very surprising because the way their thought process and their ideologies, things that were fed into their minds when they were young are very, very different from contemporary women. So I was truly, truly happy that there was such unanimous acceptance among women.

Host: There was a point of time, I think I messaged you also the day I saw that tweet when you went for the Shakuntalam trailer launch. And there was that ridiculous tweet that you gave a very nice answer to. At that point, I think I was also going through something emotional. I was breaking into hives and everything because of my autoimmune and I was like, outer beauty is everything and I was putting on weight and everything and people don’t know what is happening. And my friends were sitting there, they knew, I was losing momentum because metabolism takes a huge hit and then you can’t eat this even if you are going on a diet and then also things are not working. So there’s a lot of deep level of frustration, especially when you’re going through an emotional low especially. That day I broke down seeing that comment. And I swear I was in an auto and I broke down and I felt like man, if this is happening to her, I don’t know how she’s dealing with it because it felt like a more personal attack because I’ve been through that and every time people come and say, “Why you… why you saying this why you saying that?” because you’ve helped me heal. I swear, I swear for the last one month I have not had anything. Was it difficult at any point because you’ve always put on a brave smile on your face. Was it ever difficult where you felt like “Why… like what is the world wanting of me?”

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: You know, I’ve been through a lot of struggle. But I think this is the final… it was a final breaking of shackles because as an actor, you are always expected to display perfection. Display perfection in your Instagram, perfection in your interviews, perfection in your films. And I could never get over just letting go and accepting myself for who I am. I’ve always wanted to be better and better and better and look better and look better. And finally now I am at a place where I have no control over this condition, the medication that I have to take, the side effects of all of the medication. One day I’m puffy, one day I’m fat, one day I’m sick, one day I have no control over how I look. So this was a final shackle to be broken as an actor. As an actor, your eyes are the medium to express emotions. Every day I wake up with pins and needles in my eyes. Every day that I go through this pain, I’m sensitive to light, which is why I don’t wear glasses just for fun and for style. The light actually affects my eyes. I have intense migraines. I have intense pain in my eyes. They swell from the pain. This is every single day for the last eight months. This is probably the worst thing that can happen to an actor because your eyes are the medium through which you express. So if there are any shackles of vanity that needed to be broken, oh, it’s broken, all right. I have reached probably the lowest of lows and I’ve come creeping back up. So I think that one comment about how I look was… it was like, please, Maybe when I looked at even my best, I didn’t feel as strong and beautiful as I feel now because… just because of life experience. Because you know that others might see the outside, but what I see is someone who fought every single day for eight months, and that’s not easy. And that’s beauty there. So say what you want about how I look on the outside, but I’m happy with who I am on the inside.

Host: One thing that has not changed about you despite the experiences that you’ve had in life is that you’re still as kind, empathetic and sincere to everything, every person that you know, everybody. There is so much of goodwill about you and like you said that I’ve asked them, they have wanted to speak about you to be very honest. There have been conversations where before I did the interview they’ve spoken to me and we have had those conversations of course and during the course of the interview as well. Do you sense that support? Does it give you power? Also like you said that in what ways has it changed you this entire experience of dealing with myositis?

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: No, of course, like, whether it’s Khushi or Citadel, they waited for me without pressurizing me. They showed support every single day. When they could have been mean, they could have put pressure, they could have made my life harder, but they were nothing but supportive. My teams rallied for me. Whether it was my makeup artist, hair stylist, they didn’t just abandon me. They came back. Even without knowing when I was coming back, they came back. Everyone came back. So I think that, you know, I always considered myself as an independent person, that I was the one who was giving everyone love. But this was the first time that I felt love and I needed it. I needed it from friends, I needed it from family. I needed support, I was helpless. And so this time has taught me that love is more than just between a man and a woman. Love is all around and love can come from the smallest to the biggest. It can come from anyone and it’s still love.

Host: Absolutely.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: Including Sasha and Hash.

Host: Absolutely, we keep seeing them on your posts. I have to ask you this before we go that there is a certain change. Today we see women cheering for each other and most of the people I’ve interviewed and have spoken about you, especially Rashmika, I have to tell you that whenever we meet, forget interviews, we only speak about you. And she says, she tells me also that she’s very possessive and protective of you. And so is Tamanna and Rashi and all of them that have spoken about you. I just want to know that. Do you sense that kind of sisterhood and sisterhood is something that eventually works the best for every field?

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: Yeah, absolutely. I remember that initially, in my initial days of working in the industry, there were always these articles saying, pitting one woman against the other. And I think that somewhere that caused a bit of coldness with one another. And I remember thinking, why was this the case? I remember saying, no, I’m not going to succumb to this. I’m not going to let this happen. And I started openly coming out in support of my contemporaries. And I think that that actually made me very happy. It made me very happy. And when I meet these girls, they are wonderful. They are sweet. They are normal. They are warm. They are beautiful. And they are so talented. And there are so few of us, so why not appreciate one another? And at the end of the day, we need people to rally for us. And we have only each other.

Host: Whenever there is something that breaks, unfortunately, if you look at it from a different perspective and if you look at it from a social standpoint, majorly, women are on the side where they are blamed, where they are judged, where they are prejudiced to a certain extent. And that has happened with you. You’ve battled those kind of prejudices all your… last eight months I think the kind of… even before you came out and spoke about you know battling myositis you’ve been battling a lot of those prejudices. Did it ever get to you just because you are not coming out and sharing your standpoint there was a point where it was completely at you.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: I think… these last two years have changed me so much as a person mentally, physically, spiritually, it has made me adapt to everything that is thrown at me. I don’t think they’ve won. I still feel like I’m winning.

Host: Absolutely.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: So, and sometimes, when everything is good and normal, there’s no real growth there. If you remember the thing, if you remember important parts of your life, what would you say that would be? Which was a defining moment in your life?

Host: In my life?

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: Yeah.

Host: Me deciding to shift to Mumbai.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: And that could have been a failure, but it ended up being a success, right? So I think that’s when the most growth comes from. When you are in moments where you think you’re going to be a failure, or you think that you’ve lost, or you think that there’s no way you can get up from this, those are defining moments in your life. Not the smooth parts, not the parts where everything is hunky-dory. So I think that those are the moments where you grow the most. And I believe that every time I’ve fallen is when I have grown the most, when I have learned the most, and when, they say that the rubber band is like the boomerang kind of thing. I believe that… this part of my life is probably what is going to set me up for the future to be better maybe, to be… because that’s always happened in my life. Every time I’ve sunk, I somehow come back stronger.

Host: Yeah, and I hope you already are and I hope you keep going at it. You have always spread love around you and honestly that is the reason why I think you invite a lot of love towards you and it would be a shame if I don’t show my love towards you. So I have got you a few things before ending. First thing first.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: First I know you cooked for me.

Host: Yes I cooked this.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: You baked for me.

Host: Yes this is a brownie which is autoimmune diet prone. I have not used any of the items that you asked me not to use. So this is for you.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: Thank you.

Host: And as much as you want, it will not affect you at all.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: Oh, this smells so good. Oh my god. So sweet.  So sweet.

Host: These are the two things that I wanted to give you. You can open this.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: I don’t have a gift for you, but thank you.

Host: You don’t have to give me a gift.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: Thank you.

Host: You can open that.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: This one? No, this one. This one?

Host: Yes.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: Okay.

Host: I’m just happy that they gave it to me within like 12 hours.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: Okay. What is this? Okay, I open gifts really badly.

Host: That’s okay, even I do that. That’s the correct way of opening gifts, guys.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: Yeah, see, like I’m Shakuntalam here with so much grace. So much grace right here. What is this? What is this?

Host: No, if to, there is something in it.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: This is, this is my gift.

Host: Okay, wait.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: “God couldn’t be there for everyone, so he sent healers to help others heal. You are one such blessed soul Sam.”

Host: So this is how the sky looked when you were born.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: What? Really?

Host: Yes.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: Wow that is… Really?

Host: Yeah. In Chennai.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: That’s a pretty sky.

Host: Of course it is. Of course it is. Because…

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: A special person must have been born that day. Thank you.

Host: But thank you Sam.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: I am going to put this up for sure at home. That’s beautiful.

Host: I just want to…

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: It’s such a thoughtful gift.

Host: Thank you so much and I just want to tell you that you should always remember that you are loved, you’re appreciated and genuinely, you’re admired and idolized like anything and you may you be that force of nature that you are. That’s all.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: Thank you.