"He (Anil) is so empowering as a person. He is such a feminist. He has never made me feel that because I am a girl, I am something less," Sonam told PTI.
"When I was 22-23 and had joined the film industry, somebody told me 'why are you going slowly (in your career)'?
"And I told my dad that they're saying that I can only work till I am 30-31 years old, so I should do as much work as I can. He said 'don't think like that. This is your job, you love acting, you should be doing this for the rest of your life'," she says.
"He (Anil) has never ever made me feel that 'oh you need to get married, you're a girl, you don't deserve this'," Sonam says.
"When I came in this industry, it was a shock (to me) that people are so sexist, because my father, mother were never that. They never made Rhea and me believe that we are not capable human beings because we are women," she says.
Sonam will be next seen alongside Akshay Kumar in "Padman" and "Veere Di Wedding".