Karan Johar Opens About Struggle With 'Body Dysmorphia', 'Effeminate Voice': 'Can't I Be Like Other Boys?'

Karan Johar recently opened up about his struggles with body dysmorphia and how having an “effeminate voice” has proven to be a struggle for him. He recalled attending voice modulation classes in secret and said that he used to think that he failed his parents as a boy as he wasn’t the son that they should have had.

Karan told Faye D’Souza in a recent chat, “I felt I failed a lot as a child first. I felt I was failing my parents. I felt I wasn’t the boy that they should have had. I was conditioned to believe that because I was effeminate. I was unlike all the other boys in my school.”

He recalled an impactful incident and said, “There was this talent competition and everyone was performing, and I did a dance. I could tell that some people were sneering and laughing and my mother was in the audience. I remember going to the house, closing the door and crying thinking, ‘Why can’t I be like other boys?’”

“I was battling body image issues and joined a public speaking class,” he said and added, “There was a gentleman there who told me that I had an effeminate voice and that it isn’t going to be easy in life for me. He sent me to a class that would bring some kind of baritone in my voice. All this time, I was telling my dad that I was going for computer classes because I didn’t want to tell them that this is what I was going to do.”

Karan Johar also opened up about his struggle today and said, “I have body dysmorphia. I am very awkward getting into a pool. I don’t know how to do it without feeling pathetic. I try hard to overcome it. I always wear oversized clothes.” He added, “Even in moments of intimacy I put the lights out.”

In the same interview, Karan Johar admitted he is fighting the urge to say insensitive things to his children, Yash and Roohi. The filmmaker admitted that he can see his son put on more weight than his BMI and is ‘paranoid’ about him. Karan noted that growing up, he was also a child with weight issues and can see his son get his genetics. While the filmmaker is trying to comment on Yash’s weight, he accidentally fat-shamed him during a recent holiday and instantly regretted it.