‘I was not delicate or feminine’

Fashion designer Masaba Gupta, the daughter of actress Neena Gupta and former West Indies cricketer Vivian Richards, recalled her traumatic childhood during a recent conversation, telling how her schoolmates would call her “bas**rd.” She also said boys would make comments about her body and appearance because she didn’t look like other girls.

Masaba appeared on Faye D’Souza’s podcast, where she recalled being bullied and called names at school. “It (her background) was 100 percent used against me. It was public and it was very interesting because the kids were talking about it like adults. One kid was like, ‘Hey bas**rd, I think you’re a bas**rd kid.’ This was when I was in 7th grade,” she said.

She went on to say that many people also didn’t understand why she looked the way she did. She said that she had been a professional tennis player in her youth and had broad shoulders and a muscular body, which invited boys to catcall. “I wasn’t petite or feminine, so I thought, where did this come from? I was very happy in my own bubble at school, doing my own thing,” she said.

During the podcast, Masaba also revealed how her masseuse advised her to eat a rasgulla every day so that her child would be “more beautiful” than her. She said that another woman asked her to drink milk daily for the same purpose, and that she has no idea how to deal with such comments.

Masaba was born to Neena and Richards out of wedlock, and she is now set to welcome her first child with husband Satyadeep Mishra. The two tied the knot in January 2023 and announced their pregnancy in April this year.