Sonali Bendre Defends Naturopathy Amid Doctor’s Pseudoscience Warning

New Delhi, November 25, 2025: Bollywood actress and cancer survivor Sonali Bendre has strongly defended her choice to integrate alternative protocols like autophagy into her recovery journey, following significant criticism from medical professionals. The controversy began after the actress credited her naturopath and the practice of autophagy for helping her battle and survive metastatic cancer, leading to a heated public debate about the role of unproven therapies alongside conventional medicine.

The Actress’s Defense: A Personal Journey, Not a Prescription

In a detailed public statement, Sonali Bendre clarified that her advocacy for methods like autophagy—a cellular process of ‘self-eating’ or recycling—stems purely from her personal experience and is not intended as medical advice or a prescription for others.

• She emphasized her role: “I have never claimed to be a doctor, but I am certainly not a quack either. I am a cancer survivor, someone who has lived through the fear, pain, uncertainty, and rebuilding that the disease brings.”
• The protocol was researched: Bendre stated that autophagy was “one of the many protocols I personally explored, after thorough research and medical guidance.”
• A call for respect: She concluded with an appeal for “open, respectful dialogue,” urging people to avoid “dismissing one another simply because we lean toward different approaches.” She stressed that each person must choose what feels “right, safe, and empowering for them.”

The actress was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic cancer in 2018 and underwent intense modern medical treatment, including chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery, in New York, which led to her remission in 2021. This context is central to the criticism she is now facing.

Doctor’s Strong Rebuke: Warning Against ‘Pseudoscience’

The most vocal critique came from Hepatologist Dr. Cyriac Abby Philips, popularly known on social media as “The Liver Doc.” Dr. Philips staunchly rebuked Bendre’s post, characterizing naturopathy as “quackery” and warning that promoting such unproven methods is not helpful.

The doctor highlighted the following key points:

• Remission due to Modern Medicine: Dr. Philips pointed out that Bendre’s remission was the result of her intense, evidence-based modern medical treatment in a world-class facility. He implied that giving credit to autophagy—which he describes as a normal physiological process of cellular recycling—misrepresents the reality of her cure.
• Exploitation of Patients: The doctor’s central concern is that promoting “fraudulent cancer treatments offered under the guise of naturopathy” is a serious issue that leads to patients being financially exploited and potentially harmed by delaying effective, evidence-based care.
• Ethical Violation: He argued that the ethical violation lies in “marketing unproven interventions as cancer cures based on superficial understanding of cellular biology, exploiting patients’ hope.”

This high-profile public exchange underscores the ongoing tension between personal, holistic approaches to healing and the strict standards of evidence-based medical science, particularly in the sensitive area of cancer treatment.

The ongoing debate highlights the crucial need for cancer patients to be fully informed about their treatment options, understanding the proven effectiveness of conventional medical therapies while exercising extreme caution regarding unverified alternative or complementary practices.