MELBOURNE, Australia — While promoting new Indian thriller “Kennedy” in Australia, Sunny Leone spoke about her transition between adult and mainstream work a decade ago, acknowledging the industry that helped make her a local and international icon.
The Canadian-born Leone spoke to Australian newspaper the Sydney Morning Herald to promote “Kennedy,” which closed the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne on Sunday.
“If you told me 11 years ago that Sunny Leone from adult films would be on the red carpet at Cannes with a film, I would have said you were crazy,” she told the Herald. “I went through a lot, fighting political groups, governments, fanatic groups, people with their own views of who I am, and media outlets writing so many crazy things about me. So it was pretty amazing. They couldn’t take that away.”
Speaking of her initial forays into mainstream modeling after she turned 18, Leone explained that she would go to auditions or photo shoots and found that world “a little dark.”
But then, she added, “everything switched gears to adult, which was not dark, it was very happy. Everything’s out in the open, it’s not some hidden secret of what people are expecting of you.”
Leone credits her 2011 appearance on India’s “Bigg Boss” reality show as an important milestone both for her viability as a mainstream celebrity and for dispelling anti-sex-work stigma.
“My thinking, when I was offered that show, was, ‘If I step one foot in this house, then mission accomplished,’” she said. “Because that had never happened before, someone from the adult industry on national television, on a prime-time show that everybody watches. I thought, ‘If I go home tomorrow, I’m OK with it because I’ve basically set up the next round of what my life would be because of this show.’ And now it’s been 11 years and I’ve never left India.”
India, Leone believes, “is coming into the zone” of more free expression, including sexually. Still, she can’t help feeling there’s a double standard applied to her.
“If I do a kissing scene, I get articles written about me that are not so positive,” she noted. “But if somebody else does the same thing or more, it’s considered bold, and how brave she is. It’s really quite interesting.”
Leone also revealed that the last decade has shed light on her entire life path, including her adult fame.
“I’m not ashamed, I don’t feel bad,” she concluded. “I’m extremely happy about my journey.”
