Actress Dame Meera Syal has said she was sexually assaulted when she was in her 20s, and it “completely changed my life”.
The 65-year-old rose to fame after co-creating and starring in the hit sketch comedy series Goodness Gracious Me, and later appearing on its indirect spin-off The Kumars At No 42.
The actress has now opened up about being attacked by an older man she thought she could trust until he tried to rape her.
A Silent Ordeal
The sexual assault, which happened in the 1980s, was never reported as Dame Meera could not bear the thought of putting her parents through a criminal trial – and instead told no-one.
Speaking to The Times, she said: “This is the first time I’ve spoken about this publicly.
“It completely changed my life and the direction of my career. I could have given up, but instead I sought out a group of south Asian writers.
“They encouraged me to write more, they found me a place to live, they healed me and awakened me politically.”
Writing Strong Female Characters
Years later, she opened up to a group of friends and learned that many of them had endured something similar.
Dame Meera said the assault led her to write the strong female characters that have featured on the acclaimed BBC sketch show and comedy shows that changed her life.
Speaking about the sitcom Goodness Gracious Me, which also starred her husband, Sanjeev Bhaskar, she said: “It was a golden age of sketch comedy, alternative comedy and Cool Britannia.
“There was a real embracing of multicultural Britain. How times have changed.”
Political Deja Vu
Dame Meera described the current political climate as giving her a “horrible sense of deja vu” specifically around immigration, recounting how growing up she would have the initials of the far-right National Front party painted on her house.
She said: “It feels like we are back in the Seventies.
“Back then we had NF (National Front) painted on our house. And that feeling of being on high alert is back after so much progress. My parents would say history is cyclical, and we are currently in the bad bit.
“We all have to get on somehow. We needed to have an honest conversation about immigration and we swerved that. And then it went underground.
“The stuff people were afraid to say out loud is now sanctioned. We used to be civil, now everything is allowed and celebrated.
“Some people who feel hard done by need to be listened to, but their frustration is being weaponised and exploited by certain public figures against immigrants.”
Career Reflections
Despite her decades-long career, Dame Meera said she does not “glide in and out of jobs” and believes “there still aren’t that many good roles for older women”.
Speaking about what her dream role would be, she said: “A badass godmother, head of a clan or a crime syndicate.
“If you had met some of the badass aunties I have met you would know they could run that ship without blinking. And she would be called something you wouldn’t expect, like Sweetie Auntie.”
– Rape Crisis runs a 24-hour rape and sexual abuse support line which can be reached in England and Wales on 0808 500 2222, Scotland on 0808 801 0302 and Northern Ireland on 0800 024 6991.
