Daily Times

Indian filmmaker and ex-wife of Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao confessed she married the Bollywood superstar because of parental pressure.

In a new interview with a digital outlet, Kiran Rao, who is currently basking on the success of her sophomore directorial ‘Laapataa Ladies’, shared that she lived with her ex-husband Aamir Khan for a year before marriage, and even after that, they tied the knot only due to pressure from their parents.

“Aamir and I lived together for a year before we got married and honestly, we did it more because of parents and you know all the rest of it,” she said. Rao continued, “And even at that time, we knew that it’s a great institution if you can function as individuals as well as a couple within that institution.”

“I think the way you interpret marriage is important because it was for a particular purpose and this social sanction really matters to a lot of people. It matters to children. There’s a lot of great things that marriage gives you. It gives you a new family, it gives you relationships and it gives you a sense of security and stability,” she explained.

However, Rao spoke about the imbalance of relationships in terms of responsibilities and expectations associated with women in marriage. She noted, “There’s so much responsibility on the woman to run the house, to keep the family together. In fact, women are expected to keep in touch with the in-laws, women are expected to be friends with your husband’s family. It’s a lot of expectation and to be able to navigate that I think needs discussion.” Notably, Kiran Rao married Aamir Khan in 2005, a couple of years after his divorce from his first wife Reena Dutta in 2002. They became parents to a baby boy, Azad Rao Khan, through a surrogate mother in 2011.

The former couple announced their separation, after 15 years of marriage, via a joint statement in June 2021 and confirmed that they will continue to raise their son as co-parents.