Mandana Karimi, actor, model and recently evicted Lock Upp contestant, has said that the ‘very well-known director’ with whom she had a ‘secret relationship’ isn’t filmmaker Anurag Kashyap. In a new interview, she said that reports claiming that Anurag Kashyap was the person with whom she had a relationship are ‘unethical and unfortunate’. Mandana said that Anurag was her friend and also added that ‘we are still friends’. In a recent Lock Upp episode, Mandana had said, “In lockdown, there was this period I was completely lost on social media and I was completely silent for a few months. After my separation and divorce, I could not trust men. Then, I did have a secret relationship, it was not committed but it went on for a year and half. My relationship was with a very well-known director who talks about women’s rights and independence of women in the outside world, how a woman should be strong.” In an interview with Times of India, “I don’t know how people have come up with some names. How can people play with names? That’s the sad reality of social media and news. The person whom I had a relationship with, was not my friend…I definitely want to add here that it’s not the name that’s going around, which is Anurag Kashyap. Anurag was my friend and we are still friends. I have seen the headlines. It’s not done. It’s very unethical and unfortunate. I want to repeat again here, it’s a sad state of news and headlines- picking names, putting words into people’s mouths.” Speaking about her marriage and relationships, Mandana said, “It’s not that if one has a failed marriage and a failed relationship, he/she cannot find love again. Such things only make you stronger. Please get inspired by what I say. See the bigger picture. I have come from Iran, done TV and movies both and am still standing tall.” Mandana was married to businessman Gaurav Gupta in 2017 and separated from him five months later. She filed a domestic violence case against him and his family and had that initially, this upheaval did take a toll on her. On Lock Upp, Mandana had also said, “My relationship with him was very secretive because I was not yet divorced and after all that I went through, he made me feel he could be that friend. I kept the relationship a secret because I was not yet divorced and I did not want it to become a thing. I wanted to give him that respect. During the lockdown, we even started living together and he’d tell me he loved me. I started calling him my partner and he started saying he loved me.” She also spoke about her abortion, “We planned pregnancy but when it happened, he completely backed off and his reason was that he did not think he was emotionally ready to become a father again. He already has a child. Suddenly he was like ‘I did not believe you could get pregnant so easily at the age of 33’. We then went to my best friend’s house because he said we should discuss with them as they are like my parents.” Mandana had added, “When we reached there, he started talking to my friend and saying he was not ready. He had planned the whole thing to get my friends to convince me to have an abortion. I then apologised to my friends and got back to the house. When we went back, he started saying ‘You should have understood, my ex is not over me and there is a public case against me’. I had to take a decision because I come from a broken home. I took the step and I did have an abortion. I do not want to name that person because he does not deserve to be known by his name.”