Ananya Panday took to social media to address rumours that she faked her admission to the University of Southern California. She posted pictures of her acceptance letter and certificate alongside a statement reiterating that she had been accepted by Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at USC for a major in Communication in the Spring 2018 semester. She explained that she had requested the university to postpone her date of admission twice, first to Fall 2018 and then Fall 2019, after the release date of her first film Student of the Year 2 was delayed. She added that her university plans are on hold for the moment while she pursues her career in acting.
Ananya also mentioned that while those spreading rumours about her faking her admission to USC claimed to be her classmates, she suspected otherwise since she felt the people she has grown up with would not stoop to such tactics. “It's never okay to bully anyone – creating fake conversations, stories and screenshots is very dangerous and can seriously damage people’s lives. So please be loving, positive and kind,” she wrote.
Read her full statement here:
“I didn’t want to do this. I didn’t feel like I needed to explain myself to anyone, but the rumours that I faked my admission at USC have been doing the rounds for a while now. They’ve been getting out of hand, and it’s even more unfair and sad that my family and friends have to go through this. As I’ve stated earlier, I was accepted by Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at USC for a major in Communication in the Spring 2018 semester. But since I was shooting for my first film and the release date later got pushed, I had to request for a deferral (which means postponing my admission) twice – first to Fall 2018 and later to Fall 2019, both of which they gracefully agreed to do. In my case, I could only defer my admission two times so I will not be attending university (for now), since I’ve decided to pursue my career in acting. As for the people who have been trying to pull me down with these accusations, I would like to send you all lots of love, peace and positivity. And would also like to say that even though they’re claiming to be my classmates (nameless and faceless) – I’m sure they aren’t because I’ve grown up with the people I went to school with and they would never do something like that. It’s never okay to bully anyone – creating fake conversations, stories and screenshots is very dangerous and can seriously damage people’s lives. So please be loving, positive and kind. (PS – my father’s real name is Suyash and I blurred out my address for security reasons.)”
Ananya Panday made her debut alongside Tiger Shroff and Tara Sutaria in Dharma Productions’ Student of the Year 2, directed by Punit Malhotra. She has also been signed on for a remake of BR Chopra’s Pati, Patni Aur Woh with Kartik Aaryan and Bhumi Pednekar.
