Actor Sameera Reddy recently opened up about the close bond she shares with her mother-in-law, Manjri Varde, revealing how she encouraged her to rediscover her confidence after a difficult phase in life. For those not in the know, after getting married while Sameera was away from the movies for a long time as she also embraced motherhood, the actress and her mother-in-law are social media sensations. Manjiri is quite an inspiration for many and Sameera has also believed in keeping it real on social media through her honest posts and candid confessions. In a recent interview, Sameera recalled that when she first met Manjri, she sensed that her divorce and her former husband’s remarriage had deeply affected her, even if she never expressed it openly.“I am going to say this openly today. When I met her, she was divorced and my father-in-law had moved on and remarried, and in my head, I always knew, though she never said it, I always knew that it was something that bothered her,” Sameera said at FICCI FLO event in BengaluruAgreeing with her daughter-in-law, Manjri admitted, “It would bother every one of us. It’s not easy to be single.”Sameera said she saw immense potential in Manjri and made it her mission to help her embrace life with renewed confidence. She wanted her mother-in-law to stop holding herself back and step into the spotlight.“I decided to make you super hot and a supersar because I really felt she had it in her. And I wanted that for her so I think when I met her, I definitely felt that… It’s not that she shrunk herself, but she didn’t go out there and just give it.”The actor also spoke about the social stigma attached to divorce and said she urged Manjri not to let society dictate how she lived her life.“That’s what divorcees feel and I am telling you, you don’t need to. You live once, there is one life and if you are going to live it for society… This is literally the speech I gave her. I said, ‘No one’s going to hold your hand when you are standing alone and crying in a corner. You have to get up and you have to make something of yourself’.”Sameera added that their intention was never to disrespect her father-in-law or dwell on the past, but to focus on creating a fulfilling future for themselves.“Even if somebody has moved on, we are not here to go and spit in their face; we are here to simultaneously move on our own path. Shine the light on yourself; automatically, everyone starts turning at you.”She added, “The whole point is to not shrink yourself for anybody, not your husband, not even your own family.”Sameera Reddy, who stepped away from films after marrying businessman Akshai Varde in 2014, later reinvented herself as a parenting and lifestyle content creator. During the pandemic, Manjri Varde also became a familiar face in her social media videos, with the duo winning appreciation for their candid and relatable interactions.Earlier, in an interview with Hauterrfly, Sameera had praised her mother-in-law for always being honest and supportive. She recalled that when they first met, Manjri had candidly told her about Akshai’s dating history and appreciated her for never taking her son’s side blindly.Describing their relationship, Sameera said Manjri is someone “who’s been there, spoken to me, been real, always taken my side. Not ki mera beta, mera beta. She’s always been like, ‘Sameera, are you okay? What do you need?’”