'No matter what size you are, you'll always find flaws with yourself': Ileana D’Cruz on struggling with body dysmorphia

Bollywood actor Ileana D’Cruz has been transparent about the need to love one’s body. Recently, Ileana opened up about the way she treats her body image issues. Speaking with Hindustan Times, the actor confessed that she was far from achieving absolute self-love and actually she was a “work under progress”. But through the years of not liking her looks and trying to make her love her image more, D’Cruz has surely shifted her focus. Now, she invests “on the good rather than her flaws”. The 34-year-old actor then went on to confess that she suffers from body dysmorphia. Explaining the mental illness, D’Cruz said, “No matter what size you are, no matter what number you are on the scale, you will always find fault with yourself. And the problem is you end up asking people to validate your fears.” But the model has also realised through the years that the key is to make peace with our body the way it is. One must embrace their whole as it is in order to make one feel “stronger” and “much more beautiful”. She elaborated that as soon as one manages to do that they will be able to get to “a better state of mind”. Although it was in 2017 that D’Cruz publicly spoke about her struggles, the actor does not shy away from accepting that she still has her bad days. “There are days when I look at myself in the mirror and I am honestly disgusted,” the actor was quoted as saying. However, she has grown towards self love too as now when she looks at the mirror, she makes sure to find at least one aspect about her that she loves or likes. While D’Cruz is on her path to acceptance, she keeps posting self-appreciation posts on her social media wall. As reported by Times Now, the actor had shared a black and white picture in October last year where donned a black bikini. She had listed all the things that made her “not ‘perfect’ enough” and shared how she did not realise that she was never meant to be perfect.