From the time she was diagnosed with stage-four metastatic cancer and emerged cancer-free in 2018-19, actor Sonali Bendre has been an effective advocate for speaking openly about the disease, encouraging people to get scanned, seek early treatment, and not feel ashamed of a cancer diagnosis. Speaking at length about undergoing intensive treatment at the renowned Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York, she movingly described the support she received from a stellar medical team, her family, and even strangers. Including advice from a naturopath in her recovery plan helped her cope with the aggressive treatment, she said. All told, Bendre’s candidness about her journey appeared to be a positive outcome of what must have been a terrible ordeal.
A few days ago, a new social media post from Bendre about surviving cancer went viral. This time, she credited her healing to “autophagy”. Autophagy is a normal biological housekeeping process through which damaged cells are recycled into fully functioning cells, triggered by fasting and exercise. For her followers who may be unaware of the extensive and costly medical treatment Bendre received in the US and in India, it would be easy to assume that she beat cancer through autophagy.
This understandably set off a storm, with medical professionals criticising her for not providing context and leaving out crucial information about the modern medical treatment she received. Any alternative therapy she may have tried, they said, would have been complementary, and not the primary protocol for treating a condition as life-threatening as hers. Dozens of doctors responded to her post, warning that such claims, when presented without the full picture, especially by public figures with millions of followers, can be misunderstood and lead people to believe that cancer can be treated with methods that are neither clinically tested nor scientifically validated.
Her response to the wave of criticism came swiftly, with a post saying she “never claimed to be a doctor, but I’m certainly not a quack either” and that she was simply sharing her experience and that “no two cancers are the same, and no treatment path is identical.”
She seemed to have missed the point entirely. No one had mistaken her to be a doctor, and neither did anyone seek to dismiss her personal experience. The objection to her post was that, as a major influencer, she had a responsibility to present the whole truth of her journey, including the fact that she had access to the best modern medical treatment available. To omit such a critical fact was disingenuous and troubling.
Last year, actor Samantha Prabhu invited a similar backlash when she spoke of seeking alternative therapies for her autoimmune condition.
Personal stories of debilitating health conditions shared by celebrities can certainly help normalise conversations around difficult topics. But beneath this effort is a growing cult of celebrity influence that often extends beyond a person’s actual area of expertise. A well-known tech CEO holding forth on longevity, another questioning vaccines, movie stars sharing personal accounts of health vulnerability — all seek to provoke conversation, attract attention and boost relatability. What many may not realise is that, however well-intentioned, these statements can sometimes do more harm than good in a country already grappling with widespread misinformation around public health. Sharing medical advice in personal conversations may be commonplace, but when it comes to public platforms, one can never be too cautious. Such questions must be addressed only by qualified medical professionals.
But celebrities, it appears, cannot resist using their massive social-media reach to influence public health conversations. They would do well to remember that increasingly, “health influencers” around the world making claims about cures, some of them dangerous, have even cost lives. In 2023, India introduced guidelines to increase transparency in the health and wellness space, aiming to curb misleading advertisements and unsubstantiated online content and requiring non-expert celebrities to provide disclaimers. The effectiveness of these regulations remains in question. This is a critical moment to hold public figures accountable for claims that can have devastating consequences and distort our understanding of who is genuinely qualified to offer medical advice and who is not.
The writer is an independent journalist and author who reports on public health, policy and culture for global publications
