Leading Tamil actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu has opened up about her health condition and the "extremely difficult year" before she was diagnosed with the autoimmune condition myositis in 2022. Appearing in the first episode of her health podcast series, Take 20, on her YouTube channel alongside wellness coach and nutritionist Alkesh Sharotri, the popular South Indian star said, "I remember specifically the year before I had this problem, it was an extremely difficult year for me. I specifically remember the day that I think my friend/partner/manager Himank, and I were traveling back from Mumbai. And this was in June of the year before last, and I remember telling him that finally I feel calm."
Samantha further stated, "I haven’t felt a little relaxed and a little calm in a very, very long time. And I finally feel like I can breathe and I can go to sleep, and I can now wake up and focus on my work and be the best that I can be at work. And I woke up with this condition." She added, "The reason I wanted to do this podcast was because after the experience, the harrowing experience that I’ve been through and well, an autoimmune condition is lifelong, so with what I’m dealing with right now as well, I’d rather want people be safe than sorry."
Samantha Ruth Prabhu, who separated from Naga Chaitanya in 2021, a year before being diagnosed with myositis, announced a break from her work to focus on her health, while also traveling around the world. Last seen in Kushi (2023) opposite Vijay Deverakonda, she revealed sometime back that she was resuming working after a 7-month gap with her podcast series. Samantha will be seen next with Varun Dhawan in the highly-anticipated Indian adaptation of the Amazon Prime web series, Citadel, directed by the Raj & DK duo, with whom she previously collaborated in the second season of The Family Man (2022).