'Becoming a sex symbol at young age haunted me'

Mumbai: Lisa Ray says she does not like being boxed into a certain identity and this is why being known as a sex symbol at the age of 16 still haunts her.

The actor, who released her memoir 'Close to the Bone', hopes people will understand her better after reading about her journey.

"I hate to be labelled and put into boxes but I had to deal with it since a young age because I was a sex symbol at the age of 16. It was completely unanticipated.

"To suddenly become this figure for an entire nation and on top of that, to look much older, that has haunted me my entire life up until now," she told reporters.

The actor, who overcame multiple myeloma, said the book should not be read just as a cancer memoir because it gives a glimpse into her journey right from the beginning of her fame. "A lot of people will understand how I have this ambivalent relationship with my career, how I am an accidental actor, how I always had one foot in and one foot out of it and how I believe that I have been underestimated only because of the way I look. Although, I don't believe they shouldn't be at odds with each other."