It was on November 22, 2009 when actress Shilpa Shetty and businessman Raj Kundra tied the knot in a dreamy wedding ceremony. The couple had known each other for quite some time before taking the plunge. However, Shilpa was highly ambitious and was more committed towards work so in spite of being in a relationship with Raj, she hadn’t really thought much about marriage until she turned 32. In fact, she used to think that marriage would make her ‘dependent’ on her counterpart.
Last year, when Shilpa and Raj completed a decade as a married couple, the actress made some unheard revelations about her love story with Raj. That’s when she revealed that before marriage, Raj had given her an ultimatum that either she agrees to marry him or end their relationship once and for all. This was the time.
“I had been working since I was 17 and I got married at 32. I was ready for marriage. I wanted to have a baby, which is one of the key reasons to get married. I was eager to accept a new role in my life — that of a wife, a mother, and so on. I’m very middle-class in the way I function and think. I don’t regret the fact that I married at a time when I was doing really well in my career”, said Shilpa as quoted by Bombay Times.
Elaborating on how Raj warned her before the wedding, she added, “Being a wife is a great role to play in life and I do that to the T, par mujhe apni pehchaan bhi chahiye thi. I didn’t want to be dependent on another person in any manner. I am a feminist in that sense, I want my space to make my choices. I remember I was shooting for a film called The Man with Sunny Deol. His dates were constantly getting shuffled. Raj (husband) gave me an ultimatum to get married or quit the relationship. I had to choose between The Man and my man”.
Destiny indeed had great plans in store for Shilpa and Raj as they are not just a happy married couple are also highly supportive of each other. The couple is blessed with two children – Viaan and Samisha. Viaan was born in 2012 whereas Samisha was born via surrogacy in February 2020.
On the occasion of the 11th wedding anniversary today, Shilpa and Raj have penned heartfelt notes for each other on Instagram. Shilpa feels that the beauty of their relationship is that it’s ‘No filter love.’
