Poonam Pandey

Poonam Pandey married filmmaker Sam Bombay on 1 September 2020. Thirteen days later, she filed a police complaint in Goa alleging that he had assaulted her and threatened her, after which he was arrested. She filed another complaint in Mumbai in 2021 alleging physical assault, and the marriage was later described as separated.

In 2022, Pandey said on Lock Upp that she had attempted suicide multiple times during the relationship because of continuing physical abuse. Her family has been identified as including her father, Shobhanath Pandey, her mother, Vidhya Pandey, her brother Nilesh Pandey and her sister Shraddha Pandey.

Pandey began modelling in 2010 and became one of the top nine contestants in the Gladrags Manhunt and Megamodel Contest. She later appeared on the cover of a fashion magazine and was featured in the Gladrags and Kingfisher calendars.

She attracted widespread media attention during the 2011 Cricket World Cup after promising to strip if India won the tournament. India won, but she did not carry out the public act, saying that she had not received permission from the Board of Control for Cricket in India. In 2012, she posed nude after the Kolkata Knight Riders won the Indian Premier League.

Pandey made her Hindi-film debut in Nasha (2013), playing Anita Joseph, a teacher who becomes sexually involved with one of her students. The film's promotional posters provoked protests in Mumbai, where demonstrators tore them down and set them on fire. Pandey later appeared in Love Is Poison, Adalat, Malini & Co., Aa Gaya Hero, GST: Galti Sirf Tumhari, The Journey of Karma, Love in a Taxi and Touch the Fire.

Her television credits include CID, Khatron Ke Khiladi 4, SuperCops Vs Super Villains, Total Nadaniyaan and Pyaar Mohabbat Ssshhh. She competed on the first season of Lock Upp in 2022, a reality series hosted by Kangana Ranaut, and appeared in the web series Honeymoon Suite Room No. 911 in 2023.

In November 2020, Pandey was arrested in North Goa after filming a nude video on government property. In 2022, the Supreme Court of India granted her protection from arrest in a case involving the alleged creation and distribution of sexually explicit material. She was named in the case alongside actor Sherlyn Chopra.

In February 2024, a post on Pandey's official Instagram account announced that she had died of cervical cancer. The following day, she said that she was alive and explained that the announcement had been intended to raise awareness of cervical cancer. The stunt drew widespread criticism, and Pandey later apologised.