Actor Diana Penty recently shared a difficult chapter from her early years. In an interview with Hauterrfly, she revealed how she faced catcalling and physical harassment during her daily commute to college in Mumbai.
While studying at St. Xavier’s College, Diana took the train from Byculla to VT station, followed by a walk to campus. Sadly, this routine exposed her to repeated harassment.
“I think every girl in Bombay has gone through this,” she said. “There’s catcalling, and people try to elbow you. It became a part of daily life.” She admitted that as a shy and underconfident teenager, these incidents scared her. “I didn’t have the confidence to elbow back,” she added.
She Faced Years of Body-Shaming for Being Too Skinny
In addition to public harassment, Diana also endured body-shaming from a young age. She revealed that people constantly commented on her thin frame. “It scarred me,” she said. “You’re a child, and if people keep telling you, ‘Oh, you’re so skinny, you don’t eat?’”
Relatives often made remarks to her mother, which left both of them frustrated. “Some aunties would go up to my mother and say this. She used to get so irritated—like why wouldn’t I feed my child?”
These experiences made Diana deeply self-conscious. She avoided sleeveless clothing and wore extra layers to hide her figure. Despite efforts to gain weight—including a recommendation to eat six bananas a day from a paediatric dietician—nothing worked. “I have spent my life trying to gain weight,” Diana said. “It was awful.”
From Struggles to the Spotlight: Her Work Today
Despite these challenges, Diana Penty continues to thrive in the film industry. Currently, she stars in Detective Sherdil, streaming on ZEE5, alongside Diljit Dosanjh, Boman Irani, Chunky Panday, and Banita Sandhu.
Looking ahead, she will appear in the upcoming film Section 84 with Amitabh Bachchan and Nimrat Kaur. However, the official release date is still pending.
