Growing up in the film industry under constant scrutiny isn't easy. Celebrity kids often come of age under public gaze, making their journey far more challenging.
Actress Janhvi Kapoor recently opened up about the darker side of this reality, recalling a traumatic experience from her teenage years. She revealed that her morphed pictures have been doing rounds on porn sites and she first discovered this when she was 15.
Janhvi Kapoor recalls seeing her images on porn site when she was 15
On Raj Shamani's podcast, Janhvi recalled being just 15 years old when the incident occurred. While attending an IT class at school, she realised that male classmates were looking at a pornographic website.
"I remember I was in my IT class and I saw boys in my class looking at this site and there was a photo of me on it," she shared. Janhvi Kapoor described the experience as deeply isolating, adding that at such a young age, she felt compelled to "rationalise" the lack of morality on social media because of her family's fame.
Things have become far more complicated now with the advent of AI. Morphed images and videos take seconds to create. Speaking about the same Janhvi added, "I am not at peace with it. There are visuals of me out there, even shared by official news pages, which are completely AI. I have never worn those clothes or been photographed like that."
Credit: Instagram/ janhvikapoor
Janhvi added that even reputable news organisations fall prey to AI images and use them. She said, "It gets circulated as if it's something I've put out. That creates a certain kind of impression. Suppose tomorrow I go to a director and I say, 'Listen, I am not comfortable wearing this,' they can point to a morphed image and say, 'But you've done it before.'"
"It upsets me, of course," she said. But over time, she has found ways to deal with it. "I feel like I don't have that much of a voice to complain. There's this attitude - you've got so much in life, thoda seh lo, don't complain. So I don't think my voice has that credibility yet. There will be backlash, and it might take away from the cause," she expressed.
Alongside Janhvi Kapoor, actors like Rashmika Mandanna have raised concerns over viral morphed videos, while Aishwarya Rai Bachchan reportedly explored legal options after her explicit AI generated videos started doing rounds online.
On the work front, Janhvi was last seen in Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari.
Lead and social image credits: Instagram/ janhvikapoor