Actor Imran Khan became an instant heartthrob when he made his debut in Aamir Khan’s production, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na (2008). As his career came out of its nascent stage and movie releases started becoming sparse, the actor tackled a lot on the personal front, including a divorce with his wife Avantika Malik, who recently talked about what all transpired behind the scenes. Avantika talked about her relationship with Imran in detail and how the divorce changed the trajectory of their lives as well as their daughter’s.
In an appearance on Nayandeep Rakhsit’s YouTube channel, Avantika shared her state of mind from the time of her divorce and how the separation affected their daughter, who was only 5-years-old at the time. She said, “When we told Imara for the first time that I and Imran were not going to be married anymore, the first question that popped into her head was whether she was going to lose her parents. Luckily, there were examples in my own family to show her that nobody can replace those people.”
She acknowledged that “it is a bit difficult for the kids to accept someone new in their parents’ life” and how every child has a certain preconceived notion of what a family is supposed to look like. While she admitted that it certainly was a task for her daughter to be okay with everything, she eventually came around. She shared that they can now joke about Avantika getting a new boyfriend and shared with a laugh, “We joke about it now, and I will ask her whether I should get a new boyfriend or not? She tells me there is no need and it is perfect, just the two of us. But she has grown now and understands that her parents are bound to have other partners.”
When asked whether she ever let her personal feelings for Imran come in the way of parenting and if she ever thought of or tried to distance Imara from him, Avantika denied any such action and credited her own childhood for clarity regarding this. She said, “I didn’t have a very good relationship with my father in my early years, and I was very clear from the beginning that I did not want that for my child. If you decide to poison your child… it’s because you are bitter and you have certain resentments. I wanted her to have a very beautiful relationship with him, and me trying to damage that is ultimately going to hurt her.”
Imran Khan and Avantika Malik were married for 8 years and welcomed their daughter Imara in 2014 before finalising their divorce in 2019.
