How Salman helped Sonali Bendre during her cancer battle
What's the story
Bollywood actor Sonali Bendre recently opened up about her relationship with superstar Salman Khan.
In an interview with ANI, she revealed that they weren't close early on.
However, things changed dramatically when she was diagnosed with cancer in 2018, and Khan stepped up as a source of support and care.
Unexpected support
Khan's support during her cancer treatment
In 2018, Bendre was diagnosed with stage four metastatic cancer. She moved to New York for treatment, facing one of the hardest periods of her life.
It was during this phase that Khan showed a side of himself that Bendre had never seen before.
"The same person who's making faces behind the camera is the same person who has made two trips to New York, where I'm there to see if I'm okay in my illness."
Initial struggles
Bendre wasn't initially fond of Khan
Bendre admitted that before this, she didn't get along with Khan because of his "prankster" behavior.
"We were not best of friends."
"There are two sides to Salman. You can either love him or you will hate him. And at that point of time, I was not fond of him."
She recalled, "When I was doing Hum Saath Saath Hain, I have had my close-ups that we are doing when he's standing behind the camera and making faces at me."
Caring gesture
How Khan helped her find the right doctors
Bendre revealed that Khan would call her husband to check if they had the right doctors and suggest names of doctors he felt would be better.
"And then once he was convinced that we had done what was the best option at this point, he was calm about it," the actor recalled.
Recovery path
Bendre is now cancer-free and helps other survivors
Bendre became cancer-free in 2021 after a long battle with the disease.
Since then, she has been using her platform to support other survivors of cancer and raise awareness about the disease.
On the work front, she was last seen in the second season of ZEE5 series The Broken News.