Sunny Leone, renowned actress, entrepreneur, MTV Splitsvilla host, and advocate for social causes, is a multifaceted personality. Known for her sizzling looks and bold roles, there’s a deeper side to her that often goes unnoticed. We caught up with her to discover what truly drives her.

Born in Ontario, Canada, Sunny Leone grew up enjoying the cold Canadian winters. Born Karenjit Kaur Vohra, she has Punjabi roots and was raised in a typical Sikh household. She had a passion for sports, singing and dancing and excelled in them. A wonderful performer, she loved to bask in the appreciation and accolades that came with it. The natural progression in her life was modelling post which she moved to the adult entertainment industry. Fate however had other plans in store for her.
A stint in the Indian reality TV show Bigg Boss not only made Sunny Leone a household name in India, her demeanour on the show and her positive attitude won her many fans. Her popularity was on the upward ascendant and it was at this juncture that there was a major turning point. She made her Bollywood debut with the erotic thriller, Jism 2 by Indian filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt. The film was a hit and this cemented her position in the Bollywood film industry. The rest as they say is history.

Coming up, Quotation Gang!
Sunny wants to shed her image of just doing bold roles and is moving to the next sphere in cinema with her role in the upcoming Tamil flick Quotation Gang. She will be making her Tamil debut alongside Priyamani and Jackie Shroff. The film is likely to be a gamechanger for Sunny as she takes on a calculating and ruthless role which is quite a change from her usual glamorous image.

Directed by R Yuvan whose previous directorial was the 2009 heist film Sindhanai Sei, this horror-comedy has been shot across Chennai, Mumbai, and Perambalur. Sunny liked the story and had given her nod to it right at the very first meeting.

Sunny plays the role of Padma, an important character. “I think everyone has worked really hard on so many details in the film and put in their best. There are many directors who come to me every week saying this role is going to change your image. And when I hear this, I am so happy. However, it’s very rare that someone actually changes my image. The Director believed in me and created a character for me something so powerful, so big. He was sitting in my house and going through every single word in the script. The artistry in the film is so beautiful.”

When quizzed about her dream role, she says, “I would love to play a superhero role.”

Her MTV SplitsvillaX5 stint
She has been hosting MTV SplitsvillaX5, the fifteenth season of the Indian reality series MTV Splitsvilla. This was shot in Udaipur and this is her ninth year as a host on the dating reality show. She says, “Starring in MTV was my childhood dream and I feel honoured being in MTV.”

“The entire show is very exciting. In terms of SpiltsvillaX5, what contestants are going through, I can feel their real emotions. I have given my personal number to a few contestants for emotional support. There are a lot of emotional moments in this season that were not there in the previous ones. There was one episode where we had to tell one of the girls to stop crying.”

The softer side of Sunny
Sunny is a doting wife and mother. She married Daniel Weber in 2011 and he is a musician, actor, and also her business manager. They have three children together, their adorable daughter Nisha Kaur Weber who was adopted in 2017 and twin sons Asher Singh Weber and Noah Singh Weber who were born via surrogacy in 2018. Sunny says, “I encourage child adoption. The only intelligent child among them is the adopted child and I’m proud of her as a mother.”

Popularity brings with it both bouquets and brickbats. She has won many hearts but there are many haters out there too. Her strategy for coping is simple, “They will anyway judge you!” She prefers not to respond to negativity. She is also all for empowering women and says, “As women we should pull each other up. When one woman can pull up another and make her feel good or give her confidence, literally we can rule the world.”

Love, heartache and relationships
Sunny like all of us has had her share of heartaches and here’s her take on love and relationships. “Love is a 50-50 thing, it’s not one-sided, and if it’s one-sided, then it’s not love. If your love is strong, you don’t need to worry. Absence makes the heart grow fonder or it will just confirm that this is the person you want to be with. Some of the greatest relationships go through the craziest things. I have definitely been through it with my husband.”

“She has a word of advice for those chasing after lovers who have deserted them, “There is a saying, when you let somebody go, if they truly care for you or truly love you, they always come back. I also was engaged once, before I met my husband. I had a gut feeling that something was wrong, and something was really wrong, he was cheating on me! I just asked him if he loved me anymore and he’s like, no, I don’t love you anymore.”

What does she think is the most important thing in relationships? “Communication is what I believe to be the most important when it comes to relationships.”

Everybody has those bad moments when we come face to face with an ex but how would she react, she candidly replied. “It would be awkward.”

About movies
Sunny likes movies but her taste in them comes quite as a surprise. “During recent times, I have been liking animation movies and I shed tears watching Cartoon movies.”

Sunny’s entrepreneurial streak!
Like every little girl and teenager, Sunny loved to dress up and wear makeup. She was always looking for new things to experiment with. This love translated into launching her own makeup brand Star Struck. She recalls that, “Once I used eyeliner and it smudged in 2 hours and that is how Star Struck happened. Makeup is something that I’ve always been excited about. Even as a little girl and then as a teenager I would love makeup. When I was younger I would save up all my money to buy makeup. However, the worst thing was that I finally got a small little pack of eye shadow once and the eye shadow didn’t stick to my eyelids at all. I felt so bad that I had after spending all my money, this was a waste. I dreamt of creating an affordable brand that’s of very high quality. “

Sunny founded premium cosmetic brand Star Struck in 2018 and it offers a wide range of cosmetic products ranging from foundation to lipsticks.

Contrary to popular belief that sexiness relates to just having a great body, Sunny says, “Being beautiful and being sexy are always interrelated. If you don’t look and feel good you won’t feel sexy. Makeup plays a very big role in this.”

Gettig Social With Sunny
Sunny Leone has always been an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and equality besides having a love for animals . She has been actively involved in social causes and says, “I’m a vocal advocate for mental health awareness and will stand for animal welfare.”

The brush with Sunny leaves us inspired, the story of an achiever who transformed the negatives in her life into her favour.

When asked about her future plans, she gets philosophical and says, “I love my current life so nothing to think of future!” The one thing that she is sure of is that, “I don’t want to leave India and I’m happily living in India!”