Actor Mandana Karimi, who is currently a participant in the Kanagana Ranaut-hosted game show Lock Upp, revealed in an episode that she was abandoned by a popular Hindi film director after she told him she was pregnant with his child.
“In lockdown, there was this period when I was completely lost on social media and I was completely silent for a few months because, after my separation and divorce, I could not trust men. During the time that I was struggling with my divorce, I did have a secret relationship. It was not committed but it went on for a year and a half,” Karimi said.
Karimi was married to businessman Gaurav Gupta in 2017 and separated from him five months later. They got legally divorced in 2021.
“My relationship was with a very well-known director who, in the outside world, talks about women’s rights and independence. He is an idol to many people from the young generation, aspiring filmmakers, and even teenagers because he has a strong image of coming from zero and becoming someone. He made me feel that he could be a friend. My relationship with him was very secretive because I was not yet divorced,” she continued.
“During the lockdown, we even started living together and he’d tell me he loved me. He even told me, ‘Let’s plan a family.’ We planned the pregnancy but when it happened, he completely backed off and his reason was that he did not think he was emotionally ready to become a father again. Suddenly, he was like, ‘I did not believe you could get pregnant so easily at the age of 33’,” Karimi added.
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She also said that he pointed to a “public case” against him and claimed his ex was not over him.
Further, she revealed that he had tried to convince her to have an abortion. “I had to take a decision because I come from a broken home. I took the step and I did have an abortion. It destroyed so much of me. I do not want to name that person because he does not deserve to be known by his name.”
Lock Upp streams on MXPlayer and ALTBalaji.