‘ALL CELEBS ARE SOFT TARGETS’

Actor Sunny Leone, who has just returned from her first international trip with her daughter Nisha, says it’s “not nice to hear nasty things about myself”

Earlier this year, Sunny Leone and her husband Daniel Weber adopted a baby girl, Nisha Kaur Weber, from Latur, Maharashtra. The actor soon got busy with work, but earlier this month, she took Nisha on her first international vacation to the USA. Now, as the family returns to Mumbai, we caught up with Sunny to talk about her trip, the controversy over a condom ad, and more.

How was the vacation?

Our only plan was to enjoy Los Angeles as much as possible and be away [from our usual, day-to-day activities]. We also had a family reunion with Daniel’s family, who hadn’t met Nisha until then. In fact, we were all excited about that.

This was Nisha’s first international trip. In that sense, will it always be special for you?

With Nisha, every day is special. For her birthday, we went to Disneyland. She is very young right now, so she might not remember a lot of these things [when she grows up], but we will at least have pictures to show what her first birthday with us was like (smiles). That’s why Daniel and I try and explore new places with her every day.

During Navratri, a condom ad of yours sparked controversy in Gujarat. How do you deal with such controversies? Do you ever feel that you’re targeted because you are a celebrity?

You know, I strongly feel that all celebrities are soft targets. It goes without saying that it’s not nice to hear nasty things about myself, especially things that are not true. But I know who I am in life and what my goals are. Plus, I have a happy and healthy family, and that’s all I can ask for in life. The controversies that are made up mean nothing to me.

Controversies apart, you’re often received well when you visit smaller cities such as Kochi (Kerala) and Patna (Bihar).

I don’t know about others, but for me, people are the same all over the world. The nice thing about going to such places is that the people there are so different than those in the metropolitan cities. I love it and I’m happy to meet fans from across the world, as it’s always a new experience.