Katrina Kaif answers trolls over postpartum body: 'Be your own biggest cheerleader'; Salman Khan backs her

She urged people to be careful about letting narratives on social media affect their sense of self-worth. If a person starts to cater to all of them, she said, it hampers the ability to make choices for oneself, and letting every critique dictate her actions could have left her paralysed with fear. She told her audience that there are times when the world will celebrate you, and other times when you have to be your own biggest cheerleader. About the ups and downs of life, she advised people to take things lightly and not to take themselves too seriously.

One report quotes her as questioning the expectation that women should bounce back after childbirth, asking where a woman would be bouncing back from when she has moved forward into something new. It also reports her saying that she is aware of her own fitness journey and will get to where her body feels most energetic at her own pace. That wording appears in only one report, and it has not been confirmed in other accounts of the event, so it should be read with care.

The trolling

In September, Kaif faced online criticism of her postpartum weight after she appeared with her husband at the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations of the Ambani family in Mumbai. She is married to the actor Vicky Kaushal, and the couple married in 2021. Their son was born in November 2025.

Salman Khan, who has worked with Kaif in several films, defended her on the Weekend Ka Vaar episode of Bigg Boss 20, asking why new mothers are unfairly targeted for the natural changes in the body after pregnancy. Ali Zafar, the Pakistani actor who starred with her in Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, publicly defended her against body-shaming. Khushbu Sundar also came out in support, and a Pakistani radio host apologised for having commented on Kaif's postpartum weight.

Her remarks were made three weeks ago but they have returned to the headlines this week with a new report on her comments about her fitness journey, which carried the headline Bounce Back? From Where? The question in the headline is the one she is quoted as asking.

The episode is part of a recurring debate on how female celebrities are judged after childbirth. Other Bollywood actors have also spoken out against comments about their bodies in recent years. Doctors say that recovery after pregnancy varies widely from person to person, and that there is no single timetable for it, which is the point many of those who defended her have made.

Social media comments on appearance are easy to post and hard to take back, and public figures bear much of the attention. For ordinary users, the practical lesson is that a remark about someone's body is rarely as private as it seems when it is posted online.

The London event was held for Kay Beauty, the cosmetics label that she founded, and the remarks came during the celebration of its first year in the UK. The reports of the event do not mention any new film or project, and her comments focused on how she handles public opinion.