Late actor Om Puri’s first wife, Seema Kapoor, who is also the sister of Anu Kapoor, recently opened up about her marriage with the actor. In a conversation with Siddharth Kannan, Kapoor revealed that the celebrated actor cheated on her while she was pregnant. She tried to save her marriage; however, things did not go her way. Kapoor also revealed that after she lost the child, Puri sent her 25,000 rupees through his secretary.

Reminiscing about her life, Om Puri’s first wife, Seema Kapoor, talked about how the actor had an affair with journalist Nandita Puri while she was with child. Seema Kapoor shared Om Puri met Nandita Puri while working on the film, ‘City of Joy.’ Several of her close friends knew about the affair but they it hidden from Kapoor.

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Kapoor said, “Everything was going fine after our marriage, but that movie turned my life upside down… My good friend Renu Saluja, Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s first wife, knew about the affair. But she and Sudhir Mishra and everyone else chalked it down to a phase. They felt that he’d get back to normal after the film. I found out about the affair much later, when I was in Delhi. He called me up and told me that he was seeing someone else, and my friends said that he was just seeking attention.”

While Seema Kapoor wanted to save the marriage, Om Puri wanted to part ways. She was able to sense the gravitas of the situation in his voice. “I returned to Mumbai, and everything felt normal. He left the city for a shoot soon afterwards, and while sifting through his stuff, I discovered love letters. I was shattered. I never wanted to divorce him, despite the affair.” She added, “I wanted to mend things, because I was pregnant. He knew I was pregnant, but this was a source of insecurity for Nandita. She’d call him up in front of me.”

Subsequently, while she was three months pregnant, Seema Kapoor decided to finally take the plunge and leave. “But things became overwhelming; Puri sahab would drink too much, and Nandita would make a scene. One night, I decided to leave. I was three months pregnant.” Matters escalated and Anu Kapoor wanted to drag Om Puri to court. Seema Kapoor received 6,00,000 rupees in alimony however she refused the 25,000 he sent her after she lost her child. “Forget consoling me. He sent Rs 25,000 via his secretary. I turned it down, and his secretary told me, ‘This ego is what is destroying you’. But what he thought was ego was just self-respect.”

Moving ahead, Om Puri tied the knot with Nandita Puri and they had a son, Ishaan. Prior to the actor’s demise in 2017, he reached out to Seema Kapoor to apologise.

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