Mumbai, Nov 2 (IANS): Television star Rupali Ganguly has spoken about the hardships a woman has to go through after becoming a mother.

Rupali was in a conversation with Ranveer Allahbadia. The host asked the actress if she had ever forgotten herself, to which Rupali said: “Of course, but six-and-a-half years when you are home as a housewife… After having a kid your waistline suddenly becomes 40 from 24-25. You stop looking at yourself in the mirror.”

She said that “Monisha Sarabhai” has “gained so much weight.”

“Aunties will just say it but those things really hurt a woman who is anyway battling with a lot of things. There are a lot of postpartum things happening. I have always worked,” she added.

Rupali revealed that she relates to her iconic 90s character Monisha Sarabhai from the sitcom “Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai.”

“I would come home and one slipper would be here and the other other there. I was Monisha Sarabhai. My mother raised me with a lot of love. But I was still very hardworking,” she said.

“Then you get married with so many responsibilities not that the husband did not share the responsibilities. He was there with me… And not once did my husband tell me that I am ugly or I was fat. I don't think he even realised that I became so big.”

Women feel less of themselves, she shared.

“To accept yourself, you look for plus size clothes. Somewhere there your self image takes a beating. You feel less of yourself somewhere.”

The talk show host asked if she ever cried because of all this?

“I didn't even have time for that. I didn't even have time for that because today I feel like I am working very hard, I am doing my work very diligently. I shoot in the morning and at night. But a housewife works 10 times more than me.”

“When I was not doing anything, I was working a lot. I mean, on one hand, you manage the house. On the other hand, even though your house helps, they are very good. But still, somewhere, you have to manage.”

“So somehow, by talking, you have to do everything. Whether you have to go to the grocery store, or if something happens to your child, you become paranoid. You say, my child, what happened to my child?”

Rupali said that she became completely paranoid.

“And when a child is at a late age, he becomes even more paranoid. So doing all those things, then you realise that you are so paranoid all the time. I had become completely paranoid. Like everything had to be perfect and I was not managing to do anything perfectly. So yeah, this happens,” she said.