Sushmita Sen is the proud mother of 10-year-old Alisah, whose essay on adoption had the 43-year-old actress 'in tears.' Sushmita Sen adopted Alisah in 2010, a decade after she adopted Renee in 2000. On Instagram, Sushmita Sen shared videos of Alisah reading out her essay, in which she makes a case for adopting children. Alisah's reading was frequently punctuated by emotional 'awwws' of Sushmita Sen. After the reading, Alisah told Sushmita that she wrote the piece by herself by 'reflecting on her past and present.' Sushmita Sen shared her favourite line from Alisah's essay and captioned the post, "'You gave life in such a way, that you saved one.' #alisahsen... She had me in tears... This magnitude of love, acceptance, security, purity and honesty... the divinity in her convictions... uffff! Just listening to her opens the heart. #bornfromtheheart. I love you guys."
Sushmita Sen came up with the phrase "born from the heart" when she first told Renee about her being adopted. Speaking to Rajeev Masand on Women We Love, Sushmita Sen revealed: "I told her (Renee), 'Biological is boring... everybody is born from somebody's stomach. Why would you want that? You're special because you're born from the heart.'"
Here's Sushmita Sen's post featuring Alisah:
In an interview with news agency IANS, Sushmita Sen said that adoption was not an "act of charity" for her, instead it was the wisest decision she made when she was 24. "The wisest decision I made at the age of 24 was to become a mother. It stabilised my life. People think it was a great act of charity and wonderful action but it was self-preservation. It was me protecting myself," she was quoted as saying.
Sushmita Sen, former Miss Universe, had featured in films like Biwi No 1, Dastak, Kyo Kii... Main Jhuth Nahin Bolta, Main Hoon Na and Dulha Mil Gaya, among others.