Actress Anita Hassanandani recently spoke about her childhood in an interview and how she grew up quite quickly after losing her father. She was speaking on a podcast when she revealed that she lost her father to alcoholism and she remembers being angry at him while growing up. Anita said that she now has a better understanding of how her father struggled with addiction.

Anita spoke to Siddharth Kannan on his YouTube show and revealed that she had to manage alone after her father’s death and started looking for a job at the age of 15. The actor said that she misses her father today, especially because she is a parent herself and she wished her father could have seen his son once.

An emotional Anita said, “He was a real alcoholic. So, I lost some connection with him. But with a father, it is always very special. I have not spoken about my father. I am sorry, and I don’t know how many years it has been. I miss my father. I have a child now, so I think, I wish he had met Aarav (his son), it would have been very special.”

The actress, known for her stints in TV shows “Naagin”, “Kabhi Sautan Kabhi Saheli”, “Yeh Hai Mohabbatein” and “Kavyanjali”, said, “I was always very angry with him for drinking. I didn’t know why… Now I know it’s an addiction, and he too was going through a phase that he was going through. I am sorry for not understanding. Now that I understand that he too was going through it, I should have understood better.”

Anita revealed that she has an elder sister who is married and has to take care of herself and her mother. The actress recalled that people were wondering how the two of them would survive after their father’s death. She further revealed how she found a ray of hope in her first job at actor Manoj Kumar’s office.

“Earlier, I actually did a job. I was a receptionist at Manoj Kumar’s son Kunaal Goswami’s office. Actually, it was his brother who said to me, ‘Why don’t you do a photoshoot?’ That’s how it all started. It’s been so many years, I never met him since then. Through this podcast, I can thank him for giving me some direction in life. I worked there for a few years, then photoshoots, auditions, look tests, and here I am,” she revealed.

Anita is one of the most famous faces in the TV industry today. She is married to businessman Rohit Reddy and they also have a son named Aarav. The actress has worked in many Hindi and South Indian films. She is also a close friend of filmmaker Ekta Kapoor.