Aamir Khan is celebrating his 57th birthday on Monday. In an interview, the actor has revealed the reason behind his two divorces. He has confessed that he “didn’t shoulder his responsibilities” as he was lost in focussing on his career so much that he couldn’t give time to his family. The actor delivered his first flop in several years, Thugs of Hindostan in 2018, and will now be seen in Laal Singh Chaddha.
Aamir was married to Reena Dutta and has two kids–Ira Khan and Junaid Khan–with her. They got divorced after 16 years of marriage. He later married filmmaker Kiran Rao and the two have a son, Azad Rao Khan. They announced their separation last year, after 15 years of marriage.
Talking about what went wrong in his personal life, Aamir told News agency in Hindi, “Somewhere I didn’t shoulder my responsibilities. I would start with my parents, my siblings, my first wife – Reena ji, Kiran ji, Reena’s parents, Kiran’s parents, my children, all these people I am talking about are my close ones. When I was 18, when I joined the film industry, I got so absorbed, I wanted to learn so much, I wanted to do so much that I somewhere — today I realise — people who were close to me, I couldn’t give them time the way I wanted to.”
Claiming that he was trying to build a relationship with his audience, he further said, “I have given all my time to my work and I made that relationship very strong. I thought my family was with me anyway. I just wanted to win the hearts of the audience at the time. And, I got completely lost, so much so that I forgot my family was waiting for me.”
Aamir also spoke about not being there for his daughter Ira. “It’s my biggest mistake (not being able to spend enough time with kids). But I won’t blame my profession for it. Today, Ira is 23 but when she was 4-5, I wasn’t there for her. I was busy with films. Every kid needs their parents because when you are a child you have your own fears and hopes. But when she needed me the most, I wasn’t by her side to hold her hand when she would get scared. And, I know that moment will never come back.”
Ira has earlier talked about suffering from depression. She made her directorial debut in 2019 with a play titled Euripedes’ Medea.