Actor who faked death to raise awareness for cervical cancer breaks silence

An actor who faked her death to raise awareness for cervical cancer has broken her silence.

A statement was shared to the Instagram account of Bollywood actor Poonam Pandey, 32, on Friday, 2 February, claiming she had died from cervical cancer.

The news had been confirmed by her team, including her manager to several Indian news outlets, which was then covered by media outlets worldwide.

However, the actor has now shared a series of posts announcing that is not dead, and that it was a stunt to supposedly raise awareness of cervical cancer.

“We did this for a good cause to raise awareness, and it has. A lot of people who had no idea about cervical cancer have Googled it, and it is trending now,” she said.