Actress Sonali Bendre has stepped into the spotlight again, this time responding to the backlash triggered by her comments on the role of naturopathy and autophagy in her cancer recovery. The debate, which escalated over the weekend, saw several doctors calling her earlier post misleading, while others questioned the dangers of elevating anecdotal healing over evidence-based medicine.
In a detailed clarification shared on Monday, Sonali said her intention had never been to present herself as a medical authority.
“I have never claimed to be a doctor, but I'm certainly not a quack either. I am a cancer survivor, someone who has lived through the fear, pain, uncertainty, and rebuilding that the disease brings,” she wrote. Her note was attached to a tweet of HT’s report about medical professionals reacting strongly to her claims.
She explained that her mention of naturopathy and autophagy was rooted only in her personal experience from 2018, when she was battling stage 4 metastatic cancer.
“Everything I've ever spoken about has been my experience and my learning. As I've repeatedly said, no two cancers are the same, and no treatment path is identical. One of the many protocols I personally explored, after thorough research and medical guidance, was autophagy. It made a difference for me then, and continues to do so today... for me,” she added.
Sonali said she had always presented her journey with “honesty and humility” and never as a replacement for medical treatment. “What truly matters is open, respectful dialogue. We don't all have to agree, but we should avoid dismissing one another simply because we lean toward different approaches. Each person must choose what feels right, safe, and empowering for them,” she wrote.
Despite her clarification, doctors continued to express concern. Hepatologist Cyriac Abby Philips, widely known online as The Liver Doc, argued that the real issue wasn’t Sonali herself but the people advising her. “Sonali Bendre is not a quack. The Naturopath she is taking advice from is a quack. Sonali Bendre, like many others before her and many more after her, are victims of big claims, zero evidence pseudoscientific practices such as Naturopathy,” he wrote.
He urged the medical community to respond with reason, not outrage. “We need to be rational humans so that we can make logical conclusions based on evidence, not experience or anecdotes,” he said, adding that the actor shouldn’t be “victimised” for sharing her journey.
The controversy began when Sonali posted about autophagy on Friday, crediting her naturopath for introducing her to it and claiming it helped her healing process. “This study really helped me… this is what I followed – Autophagy for healing. And I continue to follow it till date,” she wrote. Many doctors publicly disagreed, calling the post an endorsement of “quackery.”
Sonali was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic cancer in 2018 and underwent treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. She was declared cancer-free in 2019. Her latest clarification attempts to bridge the gap between personal testimony and scientific evidence, even as the debate continues to play out online.
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