The news of legendary actress Sridevi passing away has not just us but the entire nation in shock. An autopsy report revealed that she died from accidental drowning and not a cardiac arrest, as was previously reported. It has since then given rise to countless speculations and conspiracy theories, and of course, been fodder for Twitter trolls and newsrooms alike.

Ram Gopal Varma, a self-confessed ardent fan of Sridevi’s, took to his Facebook page to pen down a letter for her fans and put forth a side of Sri’s story we hadn’t heard of.

I debated with myself whether I should put this out because of some names mentioned but I strongly felt SRIDEVI belongs to her fans more than anyone else and they deserve to know the truth

MY LOVE LETTER TO SRIDEVI’S FANS—Ram Gopal Varma

You can read excerpts from the heart-wrenching letter below.

For many, Sridevi’s life was perfect . Beautiful face, great talent, seemingly stable family with two beautiful daughters. From outside everything looked so enviable and desirable… But was Sridevi a very happy person and did she lead a very happy life? I know her life from the time I met her . I saw with my own eyes how her life was like a bird in the sky till her father’s death and then became like a bird in a cage due to her overprotective mother. In those days actors used to be only paid in mostly black money and due to fear of tax raids her father used to trust friends and relatives and everyone of them betrayed her the moment her father died. Coupled with this the ignorant mother made many wrong investments in litigated properties and all those mistakes combined made her almost penny less by the time Boney came into her life. He himself was in huge debts and all he could afford was to give her a shoulder to cry on.

He spoke about pressure on her to keep up with beauty standards…

In this entire period except for the short glimmer of English vinglish Sridevi has been pretty much an extremely unhappy woman. The uncertainty of the future,the ugly turns and twists in her private life left deep scars in the super stars sensitive mind and there after she was never at peace. She went through so much in her life and due to her early career entry as a child artiste,life never gave her time to grow up at a normal pace. More than the external peace, her internal mental state was of a high degree of concern and this forced her to look at her own self. She was the most beautiful woman for so many people. But did she think she was beautiful? Yes she did, but every actress’ nightmare is age and she was no exception. For years, she was doing occasional cosmetic surgeries –  the effects of which can be clearly seen. He always came across as a little uptight but that’s because she built a psychological wall around her as she was scared of anybody to really see what’s going on within her. She was panicky about anybody knowing what her insecurities were.

He added,

Sridevi is actually a child trapped in a woman’s body. She is naive as a person, but suspicious because of her bitter experiences, which is not a very good combination. Keeping the speculations of her death aside, I generally don’t say “Rest In Peace” after people die, but in her case, I want to really say this because I very strongly believe that she would finally and truly rest in peace now for the first time in her life because she died.

You can read the full post on his Facebook page.

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Posted by RGV on Monday, February 26, 2018This is really heartbreaking and disturbing.