Imran Khan's former wife Avantika Malik says the idea of living apart came from him

Imran Khan, known as Bollywood's "chocolate hero", has been away from the screen for a long time, yet he keeps making news. Mumbai Police have sent him a notice not to leave the country. The matter has reached court and will be heard soon. Meanwhile, his former wife Avantika Malik has spoken candidly about their divorce in an interview, for the first time, and her remarks have raised many eyebrows.

Imran and Avantika were together from college, and their love story was well known. They were in a relationship for nearly 18 years, 8 of them as a married couple. In 2019 the two decided to part and got divorced. People have since wondered what exactly happened between two people so close.

Avantika has now said the first thought of separating was not hers. In a podcast she said, "To be honest, I never thought of divorce. That thought was Imran's. He came and told me himself that we should try living apart for a while."

She went on: "I admit we had arguments and problems. But every relationship has them. I never thought of leaving. Imran proposed living apart for 6 months. We lived apart for 6 months and then we realised it was no longer possible to stay together. Then we took the divorce with the consent of both."

Avantika became very emotional describing the effect the divorce had on her. She said, "People think a divorce means freedom. But it does not. The experience is like death. The dream of spending a whole life with a person dies. The picture you have painted in your mind of what you will do in future, how you will raise children, how you will spend old age, is wiped out in a single night. For me he was the closest person, and he was the one who went away. The grief was very great. I was completely shattered. My mental state became very bad."

Despite all this, Avantika does not consider the relationship a failure. She says, "We met 19 years ago. He saw success and he saw failure, and I was with him at every stage. We brought a daughter into the world and made a family. For 18 years we supported each other honestly. I feel sad that the end was not good, but that does not mean our whole relationship was wasted. We tried."

Asked what advice she would give if she met the 19-year-old Avantika, she said, "I would say, child, first do something for yourself. Stand on your own feet. Build your own identity, build a career, earn money. Marriage and children all come later. First show the world who you are. This is the mistake I made. I got into a relationship very early and paid no attention to myself."

For now, Imran and Avantika are both conducting themselves with maturity. Both are trying to be good parents to their daughter Imara. Though the relationship of husband and wife has ended, they remain together as parents.