Deepika Padukone recalls growing up with celeb dad Prakash Padukone, wants to do the same for daughter Dua: ‘Found out later that he was a celebrity’

Deepika shared with Marie Claire, “We weren’t burdened with our parents’ hopes and dreams.” Even though Dua is the daughter of two of India’s most recognisable faces, Deepika wants her to experience the same kind of normalcy she once did. “I don’t ever remember my father sitting me down and saying, ‘Hey, I’m a professional badminton player and I’m a celebrity,’” she recalled. “I remember it being he was a father first and everything that we got to know of him was based on just our own curiosity and the fact that everything was just so normal. It was, in fact, only much later on in our lives where we found out that our father was a celebrity, when people approached him for autographs.”

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Protecting Dua’s innocence is a priority for Deepika. So far, Deepika has shielded Dua away from the cameras. She hasn’t even shared any of her daughter’s photos on social media.

Navigating parenthood under the constant scrutiny of the public eye isn’t easy, but Deepika is no stranger to living life in the spotlight. She’s learned to shut out the external noise early on. “Whether it’s what movies I want to do…how I want to live my life or the things that I’m really passionate about, and beyond that, it doesn’t even matter what anyone else thinks,” she said. “I am someone who has always been able to tune out and just listen to my instinct.”