A screenshot of a tweet purporting to be from Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has gone viral on social media.
The tweet talks about the actor being in an abusive relationship in the past and also supposedly calls out her ex-boyfriend, referred to as “Bollywood’s biggest charity man”.
The screenshot of the tweet was shared by the handle @TheGuruGhantal, who wrote, “Finally she speaks after so many years #MeToo.” His tweet has been retweeted 41 times.
Click here to view an archived version of the tweet
The screenshot is also viral on Whatsapp. BOOM received the same image on its helpline number (7700906111) asking to verify the same.
A Google search for Aishwarya’s official Twitter handle doesn’t yield any results. While there are many Twitter handles by her name, none of them are related to the actress and appear to be fan accounts.
When we checked for the Twitter handle @AishwaryaRai, we did find an account but it wasn’t a verified handle, neither was the profile picture of the account similar to the screenshot of the tweet with #MeToo.
But the Twitter handle, in its description, linked Aishwarya Rai’s official Instagram account.
Twitter’s policy states that users are allowed to create parody, newsfeed, commentary, and fan accounts on Twitter, provided that the accounts follow the requirements as mandated by them –
Aishwarya has stayed away from social media after taking a backseat from films but she is present on Instagram and has a verified Instagram account with her name as AishwaryaRaiBachchan. She has over five million followers on Instagram, but follows no one.
She spoke about the #MeToo movement unfolding on social media at a recent promotional event for L’Oreal.
“I have always spoken out. I spoke in the past, I am speaking now, and I will continue to speak.” News18 quoted her as saying.
“Social media has enabled the conversation and any woman who comes from any part of the world today has a voice that will be heard,” the actor said.
Aishwarya’s relationship and bitter break-up with actor Salman Khan had made headlines in 2002.
The Times of India had, at the time, quoted Aishwarya as saying, “After we broke up, he would call me and talk rubbish. He also suspected me of having affairs with my co-stars. I was linked up with everyone, from Abishekh Bachchan to Shah Rukh Khan. There were times when Salman got physical with me, luckily without leaving any marks. And I would go to work as if nothing had happened.”
(This was first published on BOOM and has been republished with permission.)
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