Twinkle Khanna has apologised for defending the sexist comments made by her husband for comedian Mallika Dua during a reality TV show on Star Plus.
Taking to Facebook, Twinkle wrote, “I would like to apologize to everyone who felt that I was trivializing the cause of feminism especially because I strongly believe in equality and have been a feminist from the time I was a young woman, much before I even knew the term.”
Twinkle confessed that she had reacted ‘irrationally’ because she had reached ‘breaking point’ after social media users began targetting her family including her son.
She wrote, “I think this came at a point where I was already reeling from an onslaught of abuse against various members of my family, which started with vicious and personal comments about my mother and went on to a widely shared open letter where the writer as a comeback for my comments about Karva Chauth tried to fling muck at every single member of my family. So when in this latest episode regarding my husband, my five-year-old was also dragged in for something that she had absolutely nothing to do with, I reached breaking point. And with my protective instincts in overdrive, I reacted irrationally with the only tools I have that help me retain my sanity in this fishbowl existence -words and lame jokes -though they have got me into trouble often enough in the past as well.”
Known for her wit and funny responses on Twitter, Twinkle had becomne a subject of considerable condemnation after she defended Akshay’s sexist comments for Mallika. Mallika’s father, journalist Vinod Dua, had demanded an apology from Akshay while slamming Twinkle for coming to her husband’s defence. Dua had called Twinkle an ’embarrassed wife’ adding that he did not wish to pursue the matter.
Dua’s last Facebook post had said, “Ms.Twinkle Khanna responds to the laughter challenge controversy. It is a prosaic excuse from an embarrassed wife. Be that as it may, the point has been driven home. This chap will be careful in the future before making depraved statements like “Mallika ji aap Bell bajao, mai aapko bajaata hoon”. We don’t wish to pursue the matter any further.”
Twinkle concluded her post with the following message, “Once while embroiled in an earlier controversy (the story of my life it seems), I had written that a wise woman keeps her hands firmly in her pockets and does not accidentally unzip anything including her mouth. I am not this woman clearly, but I am going to try to be a little wiser from now on.”
In a Star Plus show, which was never broadcast, Akshay had told Mallika, “Mallika Ji aap bell bajao main aapko bajaata hun.” The episode in question involved the stand-up comedian, Shyam Rangeela, whose mimicry of Narendra Modi had been dropped by Star Plus.