Actress Sushmita Sen won the Miss Universe title in 1994 for the first time. Her life changed after the pageant victory. She recalled her struggle with the English language and how she braved her shortcomings to bring the title home.

The actress said that she was asked the question, "What for you is the essence of being a woman?” in the final round of the Miss Universe pageant, to which she replied, "Just being a woman is a gift of God that all of us must appreciate. The origin of a child is a mother, who is a woman. She shows a man what caring, sharing, and loving is all about. That’s the essence of being a woman."

The actress said that she did not understand the meaning of the word 'essence' back then as she belonged to 'Hindi medium school'. This revelation came in an interview for her younger daughter Alisah's school magazine. She shared, "You know what I loved about that question and that answer as I've looked back at it for so many years is that they never asked what are the qualities of a woman or the attributes of a woman. They said, what is the essence of a woman?”

She continued, “And I was from a Hindi medium school, so I did not know that much English back in the day. I don't know how I understood what essence meant and answered that question with such clarity and such experience, even though I lacked it at 18. I think God sat on my tongue and said, let this be said because this is how you will choose to live your life. I stated that being born a woman is a great gift of God. I stand by that. Nothing has changed on that front. To be born a woman is something. It’s a great gift of God and we must all appreciate it. This is true because life always deserves appreciation. A woman is not only the womb from which life comes, so she is not only born to be a mother, but she is also here to share and show the world what loving, caring and sharing is all about."

Soon Sen will be seen in the next?season of ‘Aarya’.