Somy Ali

Somy Ali was born on 25 March 1976, in Karachi in Sindh, Pakistan into a family of wealth and prosperity. Her mother Tehmina is Iraqi and her father Madan is Pakistani. After studying at the Convent of Jesus and Mary, Karachi until age 9, she moved to South Florida in the United States with her mother and brother. During an interview, Ali revealed that she was sexually abused at the ages of 5 and 9 by her household staff while living in Karachi, Pakistan and when she shifted to Florida, she was bullied at school and raped by a boy, 17, at the age of 14 in Miami. Her mother was also a victim of domestic violence in Pakistan that she and her brother would have to witness. After she dropped out of school, Ali convinced her father to allow her to move to the home of Bollywood, Mumbai in Maharashtra, India, at age 16 due to her inspiration from her teenage crush, Bollywood actor, Salman Khan. She was involved in modeling projects and also performed in Hindi movies while in Mumbai. She had ten appearances in Bollywood movies between 1991 and 1998, as a leading lady with top Bollywood actors. She was in a relationship with Bollywood superstar Salman Khan for eight years from 1991 to 1999. In December 1999, she returned to South Florida to continue her studies. In November 2024, Ali claimed there were connections between the deaths of Sushant Singh Rajput and Jiah Khan which ties with her former boyfriend. Ali became involved with women's rights issues in South Asia. She works toward publicizing, bringing the plight of rape and domestic violence victims. Ali has written articles about rape victims Shazia Khalid, Sonia Naz and Mukhtaran Mai. "My goal is to help all of these women and make sure that every girl/woman in my country and universally can obtain an education and has her basic human rights," says Ali. Revenue from her clothing line, So-Me Designs, is donated to her non-profit organization No More Tears, which was founded in 2007. In 2011, Ali was honored with the American Heritage Award from the American Immigration Council for her work with No More Tears, The Daily Point of Light Award 15 April 2015, by President George H. W. Bush and The National Domestic Violence Month "A Proclamation" by President Barack Obama for her work with No More Tears.In 2013 Somy was the recipient of the L'Oreal Woman of Worth Award. In 2021, Ali and her non-profit organization No More Tears were featured in the Discovery+ docuseries Fight or Flight.