'Marriage is a step that you need to think and re-think again and again.'
Aamir Khan opened up about a lot of things, including the three women in his life, on a podcast with Raj Shamani.
The actor spoke about how he married Reena Dutta just after four months of knowing her. She was 19 at the time, while Aamir was 21.
'Marriage is a step that you need to think and re-think again and again. Us waqt jawaani ke josh mein, you do not understand lot of things and you get married,' Aamir said during the podcast.
'I turned 21 on March 14 (1986) and legally, it was possible for me to get married only after a month of reaching this age. So the first working day of the marriage bureau was April 18 and I got married on that day,' he added.
Recalling his dating days with Reena, he said, 'We knew each other for only four months. We spent very few moments with each other in those four months. We got married because we loved each other. But now, I feel a step like marriage bahut soch samajh kar karna chahiye (one needs to think a lot).
'I spent a very good life with her. Reena was not wrong in any way. She is an amazing person. We grew up together. But I think at such a young age itni hadbadahat mein shaadi nahi karni chahiye (one must not get married in a hurry).
'But had I not done that, I would not be sitting and doing the interview here.'
Aamir said the biggest gifts from his marriage to Reena were his two children, Junaid and Ira.
'Marrying Reena was not mistake. I spent 16 years with her. So it is not that everything was a mistake. But what mistake you do your life becomes that. Today, I think I cannot get married in four months. In those days, I never used to take therapy either. I see red flags very quickly now,' Aamir says.
What was the red flag in his marriage?
'I was lost in making films and I was a workaholic. This was a red flag from my side. I was very emotional. If someone hurt me, I used to shut down that person from my life. And that, you just could not reach me.'
His second wife Kiran Rao experienced that 'shut down'.
'Once I got hurt with Kiran, I stopped talking to her. I did not respond to her. At one point, she started crying. At that moment, there were two emotions going on inside me: Anger and ego. I would not pardon her.
'I could see her getting hurt and I would tell myself to go and speak to her. But I was just unable to take steps in that direction. It is only after therapy that I understood that what I was doing was wrong,' reveals Aamir.
'Man should not be too judgemental and hard-hearted when it comes to emotion.'
Today, he has a good relationship with his former wives and they are a part of his extended family.
Speaking about a viral video where Aamir is seen dancing with Kiran in Ladakh after their divorce, Aamir said, 'I was dancing with Kiran in Ladakh after the divorce and people were wondering how we could do that. But we are a part of the family, so we are dancing together. I cannot explain these things to people. The same holds true for Reena. Reena and I respect each other a lot. We have love for each other in our hearts.'
Now, at 60, Aamir, who is dating Gauri Spratt, has decided not to get married again.
When asked what changed his decision about not marrying again, he replied, 'Gauri' referring to his current girlfriend, Gauri Spratt. He added that at 60, marriage didn't seem 'appropriate'.
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