‘Greatest cruelty my father ever did; My mother screamed, cried’: Lakshmi Priya on childhood trauma

Actress Lakshmi Priya has revealed a deeply painful chapter from her childhood, describing a moment she considers the harshest cruelty she ever experienced from her father.

She recounted being separated from her mother at just two years old, an event that left long-lasting emotional scars.

In an interview with Can Channel Media, Lakshmi Priya spoke openly about her early life, her parents’ separation, and the complicated emotions tied to her estranged relationships with both her mother and father.

Reflecting on her book Kathayum Kathapathrangalum Sankalpikamalla, she explained, “There is nothing fictional in it. There are many things I haven’t written as well. My father has been dead for the last four years.”

She remembered how her father unexpectedly contacted her after many years. “When I turned 30, I got a call from my dad. He used to affectionately call me ‘Poove’ (flower). It was a name that very few people called me. When he called me ‘Poove’, I recognised it was my father. But I did not feel anything, because such a meeting or interaction was not something my heart wanted. When a girl is alone and wants her parents around her, they were not present.”

Speaking about her estranged relationship between her parents, Lakshmi Priya admitted she longed to reconnect.

“I don’t know what caused my mum and dad to separate. If I asked my mother, she might say it's your father’s fault, and if I asked my father, he might say it's your mother’s fault. But I’d like to hold my mother close. I’m not in touch with her, and I haven’t heard her voice in years. My mother is alive and healthy.”

She recalled how her parents married at a young age and had children early. The actress then recounted a traumatic childhood memory of being taken away from her mother.

“By the time my mother was 22, all three of us were born. When we came to know that my mother’s father was about to die because of cancer, we decided to go and see after him in Kayamkulam. We lived in Haripad at the time. We were waiting for a bus when my father took me from my mother, while my siblings stood beside her. It was the greatest cruelty my father ever inflicted on my mother and me. He took a two-year-old girl from her mother and said he would go and buy cigarettes. He took me, crossed the road, and went to a shop. A bus came that blocked her view of us. For some time, she could not see us and waited at the bus stop. Several buses came and went, but my father did not return. When she searched for me, someone told her that my father had boarded a bus to Alappuzha with me.”

Lakshmi said her father took her to his mother’s home. “He told his mother that no matter who came from Kayamkulam, they should not send me with them, and that he would return for me. My mother cried and screamed that my father had taken me with him.”

She also remembered the first time she met her mother again as a teenager. Though she longed for her mother’s presence, she admitted that there remains no bond today. “One day, to find out about my mother, I left for my home and then travelled to her place. I went by bus and rickshaw, and by chance, I came across a man who was my mother’s uncle’s son. He took me to my mother’s house. He called everyone from inside and asked if they recognised me.”

Her expectations versus reality of meeting her mother. “While waiting to meet her, I was picturing scenes from movies—running to her, hugging her, kissing her. But when my mother came out, she looked at me as if to say, ‘Who is this?’ My uncle told her, ‘It’s Poove.’ She then looked at me and just said, ‘Oh.’”

She admitted her mother might have been going through difficulties at the time, but the reception left her hurt. “Perhaps she was going through a lot, I don’t know. I stayed with her for two or three days. I only wish my mother had treated me with a little more love. They thought I had been sent there to ask for my share of property, so I was not accepted openly.”

Despite the cold reception, Lakshmi Priya said she continued visiting her mother for some time. “Whenever I missed her, I went back. For two years, I used to visit her.”