I Won’t Be Judged: Anoushka Shankar Claps Back At Trolls

India-West News Desk

NEW DELHI – Anoushka Shankar has a clear message for trolls: she won’t be judged.

“I haven’t got to this point, after all that, only to accept any banal, pathetic comments (male) strangers feel the need to bring into my orbit,” the 44-year-old musician wrote in a recent Instagram post. “The inherent arrogance that allows one human to think they have the right to pass judgment on someone in this way is astounding.”

She made it clear that in 2025 society should be “far beyond this kind of idiocy.” And if anyone missed her point, she underlined it: “For the people in the back: My body is not anyone else’s to comment on. My choices — all of them — are mine to make.”

The 11-time Grammy nominee then turned her post into a reflection on resilience and survival. “In one sense, JUST a body (everyone has one!) and therefore nothing special. In another sense (like EVERY body!) it is also a miracle. When I think of what my body has carried me through I’m filled with awe and gratitude.”

She went on to list the many battles her body has endured. “This body has birthed two children, survived child sexual abuse and several dangerous situations with men, healed through four major surgeries, suffered through polycystic ovarian syndrome with heavy period pain and migraines from the age of eleven, made it through addiction, held me through battles with undiagnosed neurodivergence (and all its accompanying confusion, stress and exhaustion), fought and come to terms with an autoimmune disorder, and generally been a complete, badass warrior on my behalf.”

Shankar ended with a message of solidarity for anyone else on the receiving end of unsolicited commentary. “To anyone else who receives these kinds of comments, either in public or in private, I see you, and I’m with you. It’s not your shame to carry, it’s theirs.”