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Meera Syal reveals assault that changed her career: “They healed me and awakened me politically”

Syal credits a group of South Asian writers with helping her recover and find her voice

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Meera Syal reveals assault that changed her career: “They healed me and awakened me politically”

Highlights

  • Meera Syal has spoken publicly for the first time about being sexually assaulted by an actor in the 1980s.
  • She says the experience changed the direction of her career and pushed her towards writing.
  • Syal credits a group of South Asian writers with helping her recover and find her voice.

Meera Syal has revealed a deeply painful chapter from the beginning of her acting career, speaking publicly for the first time about being sexually assaulted by an actor she believed was offering to help her find work.

The Goodness Gracious Me star was in her mid-twenties when her acting opportunities had dried up, and she was considering abandoning her ambitions. She was singing with a jazz band in a Covent Garden restaurant and applying for jobs as a waitress when an older Asian actor invited her to a gathering at his London home.

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