Bollywood Star Mallika Sherawat Punched And Tear Gassed By Masked Attackers In Paris

Bollywood actress Mallika Sherawat and her boyfriend, Cyrille Auxenfans, were attacked in Paris, local police told AFP news agency Thursday.

Masked intruders carried out the assault last Friday in the hallway of businessman Auxenfans’ apartment building in the French capital’s upmarket 16th arrondissement, police said.

The couple told authorities that the three men punched Sherawat in the face and tried to steal her handbag. They also beat Auxenfans and threw tear gas at the couple. The attackers then fled empty handed.

Sherawat, whose real name is Reema Lamba, is best-known for her film roles and activism, after a 2013 appearance went viral when she spoke about the lack of women’s rights in India.

A source close to the police investigation told AFP that authorities were unclear as to why the attackers left without taking anything.

Sherawat has not spoken out publicly about the incident, but she has continued posting to social media since the attack last Friday. She posted an emotional video to her fans on Twitter Monday, Us Weekly noted.

”It’s so important to be happy in life and to laugh every day and to count our blessings and to say thank you, thank you, thank you every day,” she says in the video.

The attack occurred within a few miles of the apartment where Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint by men wearing masks. Police declined to comment to CNN when the network asked if the two incidents were related.

After staying largely out of the public eye and silent on social media since the attack, the reality TV star re-emerged this week, when Rob Kardashian posted photos of his sister and her kids in their Halloween costumes.