Imran Khan and Avantika Malik, who began dating at the age of 19 in 2002, got married in 2011. In 2014, the couple welcomed their first child, a daughter, Imara Malik Khan. However, just eight years after their marriage, the couple decided to part ways. Recently, Avantika opened up about her struggles with separation and the phase when she was unsure of how she felt about any of it.
Speaking to Nayandeep Rakshit, Avantika said for the longest time, she couldn’t believe that separation from Imran was her reality. She shared, “I would have found it very difficult to walk away and to say this is it. It is mostly because of the kind of human being I am. I am extremely emotional. Another reason is that because my parents marriage didn’t work, I thought I always had this pressure to make mine work. I was too adamant that what was my reality as a child cannot be my reality as an adult. That fear was too deep to walk away.”
Eventually, when she had to move out of the house with her daughter Imara, it was extremely difficult for Avantika. She recalled, “It was very hard. It was the worst thing I had to go through. You just don’t know anything anymore. I am very blessed that I had so many people on my corner. My friends, family and my extended family held me together until I could hold myself.”
Previously, talking about his separation, Imran Khan told Filmfare, “I entered this relationship when I was very young. I was 19, and in all good faith and good intention. But as is sometimes the case with these kinds of long-term relationships, particularly when you start at a very young age, a lot of the interpersonal dynamics and patterns get set in how you were as a teenager and as you grow, perhaps, I think all of those did not grow and evolve enough and in some way, we were not supporting or empowering each other to be the healthiest version of ourselves.”
