Mid-Day

Cannes/Mumbai, May 21: Actress Aishwarya Rai has for the first time admitted that she has been a victim of domestic violence.

Speaking to the media in Cannes, where she was promoting her new film, Provoked, Rai said, “Have I experienced it? Yeah,” when asked if she too had been a victim of domestic violence.

Rai was sitting alongside Kiranjit Ahluwalia, the Sikh woman she portrays in Provoked, and also the director of the film Jagmohan Mundhra.

She claimed that she had wanted to do the film, not for personal reasons, but to “give voice to all the Kirans we are aware of”. She admitted she had found doing the role “disturbing”.

Mundhra told Mid day from Cannes Saturday morning, “Yes, she had spoken about her domestic violence at the press conference on Friday, but she did not reveal details. When she was asked who had abused her, she said, ‘For that you have to wait for my book to release.’ I did not ask her anything, as it is her personal life.”

About Salman?

About her book, Aishwarya said, “It does take a lot to go out there, write your book, give all the details out and have the world as an audience.”

It was not clear whether she was proposing to write a book or warning Salman Khan that she could.

He further added, “I too came to know about this (abuse) last evening.  My movie is not based on Aishwarya’s life.”