Kiran Rao Says Divorce With Aamir Khan Didn't Happen 'Overnight': 'You Start Hating Yourself But...'

Filmmaker Kiran Rao has shared details about her divorce from Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan and revealed that it was “a very thought through” decision. In a recent interview, the filmmaker spoke out in length about how she and Aamir planned their divorce.

Kiran said that her and Aamir’s divorce was a “very slow” process and they took “measured steps”. “We were very sure of the fact that we wanted to change the status of our relationship but we were very conscious of the fact that we have a child whom we didn’t want affected by this,” Kiran told Zoom.

Kiran also revealed that she and Aamir have gone through “counselling” to discuss their problems. “People have ugly divorces. You tend to put it on yourself and feel like ‘Why did I marry this terrible person or I wasted so many years’ and then you start hating yourself, but I would say you should forgive yourself for the failure of your marriage. A lot of people tend to take it as a burden, especially families. They feel ashamed. You need to give yourself an assurance so you don’t regret your relationship.”

She continued, “You need to accept a person with his flaws because you have them. We must take equal ownership and both husband and wife should be held accountable in a marriage.”

Before Aamir started dating Kiran, he was married to Reena Dutta. Aamir and Reena ended their marriage in 2002. Kiran worked as an assistant director on Lagaan (2001), which left many wondering if it was her romantic relationship with Aamir that resulted in his divorce with Reena. However, Kiran recently revealed that there was no truth to the rumours.

“Lots of people think that Aamir and I connected on Lagaan, we absolutely didn’t. Aamir and I got together during Swades, he was going to shoot Mangal Pandey at the time. We had just shot a couple of commercials with Ashutosh Gowariker for Coke and that is where Aamir and I reconnected. This was three to four years after Lagaan. In fact, on Lagaan, I barely spoke to him. I was actually seeing somebody else during Lagaan. When Aamir and I started going out in 2004, everybody thought that this started when we were shooting for Lagaan and this caused the divorce, which was not the fact,” Kiran told Zoom.