Poonam Pandey

staged her own demise in February of this year. The initial announcement of Poonam Pandey’s ‘death’ was made via a post on her official Instagram account. Later on, she clarified that she was still alive and that the purpose of the act was to raise

awareness

of

cervical cancer

. This sent shockwaves across the nation, and Poonam came under heavy criticism for playing with people’s emotions.

She has once again responded to the aftermath of the death prank and called it a disaster.
During a conversation with Instant Bollywood, Poonsam said, “I did it for a cause. Logon ko abhi tak akal nahi aayi hai. Aur unko yeh bhi samajh nahi aa raha ki aaj ki tareekh main, gaon khede main jo aurte hain na, unko cervical cancer ke baare main pata chal gaya hai. Toh my work is done but it was terrible for me. It was a disaster for me. I was like yaar koi toh samjho, but I don’t know how I have passed that phase.”
The nation was left confused by Poonam’s abrupt ‘death’, and many had already claimed that it was nothing more than a publicity stunt. A number of netizens posted on social media to comment that the actress didn’t ‘look sick’ and that cervical cancer sufferers rarely die suddenly. After hearing the news, a number of celebs, including Anupam Kher and Kangana Ranaut, paid tribute to the actress on their respective X handles.
The ‘Lock Upp’ star eventually came out in a video statement a day after pretending to be dead, reassuring everyone that she was not dead. Poonam claimed in the video that the purpose of her passing was to raise awareness of cervical cancer.

“I am alive. I did not die because of cervical cancer. Unfortunately, I cannot say that about those hundreds and thousands of women who have lost their lives because of cervical cancer. It is not because they couldn’t do anything about it but because they had no idea what to do about it. I am here to tell you that, unlike other cancers, cervical cancer is preventable. All you have to do is, you have to get your tests done and you have to get HPV vaccine,” she had said in the video posted by her.