Aamir Khan's Ex-Wife Kiran Rao Says Marriage Tends to 'Suffocate' Women: 'I Didn't Fear a Divorce...'

Aamir Khan’s ex-wife and filmmaker, Kiran Rao, who is currently basking in the critical success of her recent directorial ‘Laapaata Ladies’, has spoken out about how women after marriage are burdened by so many responsibilities including running the house and keeping the family together.

Kiran and Aamir tied the knot in 2005 and parted ways in 2021. In a new interview with Brut India, Kiran revealed that she did not “fear” getting a divorce because she knew she need her space.

“Aamir and I lived together for about a year before we got married, and honestly, we did it more because of our parents. At that time too, we knew that it’s a great institution if you can function as an individual as well as a couple within that institution,” she shared.

Kiran continued, “I think the thing that we don’t talk about enough is how marriage tends to stifle especially women… There’s so much responsibility on the woman to run the house, to keep the family together… I took my sweet time so I didn’t have any worry about it. The thing is, Aamir and I were very strong and continue to have a very strong relationship as two humans. We are very connected to each other; we deeply respect and love each other, so that hasn’t changed, and so, therefore, I was not worried. I knew that I needed my space. I wanted to live independently, and I needed that to grow myself. I felt that it was for my own growth and Aamir acknowledged that as well and supported that… So I didn’t fear a divorce.”

Before Aamir started dating Kiran, he was married to Reena Dutta. Aamir and Reena ended their marriage in 2002, a year after the release of Lagaan. Interestingly, Kiran worked as an assistant director on Lagaan, which left many wondering if it was her romantic relationship with Aamir that resulted in his divorce with Reena. However, Kiran recently revealed that was not the case.

“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.