Neena Gupta says she’s never been truly loved: “It was never like the movies”

Neena Gupta has always been known for her honesty and fearless attitude. In a recent interview with ‘News18 Showsha’, the veteran actress opened up about her personal experiences with love, and her words were refreshingly real.

Talking about her first romance, Neena recalled falling for a guy from IIT, whom she later married. “Back then, everyone in college was jealous of me,” she said with a laugh. “Their parents wouldn’t even let them wear spaghetti straps. I was seen as a ‘modern woman’ in their eyes.”

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She remembered how her friends, who dressed more traditionally, would often gossip or feel competitive with her. “Woh salwar kameez-chunni waale the aur woh mujhse jalte the,” she added.

But things weren’t always rosy. Neena recounted a moment when she and her boyfriend had planned a movie outing. Unfortunately, her friends informed her parents, and she was never allowed to go. With no mobile phones back then, she had no way to let him know, and he waited in vain.

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Despite that early relationship and the many life experiences that followed, Neena made a surprising confession: she’s never really felt the kind of love people write about in novels or show on screen.

“I’ve never experienced that kind of love. Nobody has loved me like that,” she admitted. “Toh main bhi kaise kar loon? Karna bhi toh padhega na kisi ko. Mere peeche koi paagal nahi hua (No one was madly in love with me).” But that didn’t stop her from falling hard. “I had madly fallen for someone once, but it couldn’t become a relationship. It just wasn’t possible,” she said, leaving the identity of that person to the imagination.

Today, Neena is happily married to Vivek Mehra, a Delhi-based chartered accountant. The two have been together for nearly 13 years. Before this marriage, Neena famously had a relationship with legendary West Indies cricketer Vivian Richards. The couple never married, but they share a daughter, Masaba Gupta.