Aamir Khan was just 21 when he married his first wife, Reena Dutta, in 1986. After 16 years together, the couple divorced. Aamir’s second marriage, with Kiran Rao, also ended in divorce after around 16 years. At his 60th birthday, Aamir announced that he is now in a relationship with Gauri Spratt, and since then, his fans have been wondering if the actor will tie the knot again. In a new interview, Aamir spoke about his two marriages and said that their dissolution was a loss to the people concerned and their families as well. He also said that in the case of Kiran, he could have pretended that they were still together but that would have been a lie.
In a chat with Zoom, Aamir shared, “In India, marriage is very serious. When your marriage falls apart and you get divorced… people don’t like that, even emotionally. I know that too, and I also believe that marriage is a very important thing and shouldn’t be taken lightly. I completely agree with that. That’s why I can present this matter truthfully in front of people, and I should.”
Talking about both his marriages, Aamir said that they divorced because they were not happy together. “Like with my marriage with Reena, I had to say truthfully that we can’t be married anymore, same is the case with Kiran. It was a loss for all of us, even for our families. We were not happy to do this but there were some circumstances where we realised that our relationship has changed,” he said.
Aamir said that he and Kiran could have lied to the world and pretended to stay married but that would have been unfair to the institution of marriage. “I thought I could have either lied to the world and pretended that me and Kiran were very happy together, and stayed married. And we could have stayed like that forever. Personally, we could have done whatever we wanted but stayed married for the world. But that would be a lie. And it would be unfair for the institution of marriage because then you would be devaluing marriage. That wasn’t acceptable to me and Kiran,” he said.
He added, “People often divorce each other because things turn sour, they are fighting, but that didn’t happen in my case because we respected each other. We did what we felt was right and we didn’t hide it,” he said. Aamir then joked about his divorces and laughed, “Shaadi mein main kamyab nahi hua hun, lekin divorce mein main hua hoon (I haven’t been successful in marriage, but I’ve been successful in divorce).”
Aamir was asked about his take on the institution of marriage after two divorces. He shared, “I still have the same outlook on marriage. It’s a very old institution and I have the deepest regard in my heart for it. It’s a very beautiful feeling when someone discovers that they want to spend the rest of their life with this person. I would want that every person gets to experience this.”
