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Actor Ayesha Omar has opened up about being sexually abused and her struggle as a child of a single parent in a recent interview.

The Karachi Se Lahore star mentioned about childhood, she revealed, “My father passed away when I was less than two-years-old. My mother was a single parent, so I felt the bumps in the road early on in life. I was fortunate enough to get a scholarship to Lahore Grammar School, which is the most prestigious school for girls in the city, and be admitted there. We couldn’t have afforded that education otherwise because we weren’t very stable during my childhood. There was no help from the family either. I was studying in a school with very rich kids, while I came from a family focused on necessities.”

Explaining how her lack of financial resources led to her excelling in other facets of her life, Omar shared, “I wanted to prove that you don’t need to be coming from a home filled with luxuries to be doing well. I was on top of my class, I’d be part of every school activity. I did theatre, puppets, dance, everything. So, I had that drive in me, which I guess came from the trauma I faced. Maybe it was a way of getting acceptance and approval.”

On how, after stepping into her career, she was faced with many difficult situations, the Bulbulay star reflected, “The biggest bumps came during my professional life. The people who I respected and considered my seniors, the kind I expected to offer me protection in times of need, were the ones who turned their backs and hurt me. I was sexually harassed at a very young age. It happened early on in my childhood, and then later in my career as well. People would delay my payments. I had no one to back me up. I’d go and collect my payments on my own. Back then, social media wasn’t a thing so no one was worried about getting exposed. There are so many people who still haven’t paid me my fair share.”

She added, “It wasn’t a one-off incident. It was at a workplace of mine where I was a salaried employee. This was when I was a fresh graduate. When it happened, I was like, ‘What?’ It was a shock. I asked myself what was happening, what was that person doing, how was that acceptable? You wonder if it’s happening to other people. At the time, there was a lot of shame attached to these things, and also a lot of fear.”

The Rehbara diva continued, “If you were to expose a person in a position of authority and who was much older, you fear that they would harm you in other ways. That person can be vindictive. We’ve seen recently the amount of social ostracisation, backlash and trauma a victim has to face if they choose to speak up. I will always give the victims the benefit of the doubt, whether men, women or children.”

Narrating another incident where she made it a point to get her disapproval across, Ayesha said, “There’s a person who has been in this industry for a very long time, who was been a director as well as actor, he met me somewhere and said something very condescending about me in public. I called him later on and told him that I couldn’t speak to him earlier, but that I didn’t like what he said and that it was very disrespectful. He asked, ‘Is this why you called me?’ and when I said yes, he shut the phone. I had to state my boundaries.”

ALSO READ: ‘Remember praying to God to kill me’: Ayesha Omar shares horrific details of road accident with Azfar Rehman