Suchitra Krishnamoorthi was one of the national crushes in the early stages of her career. However, after marrying Shekhar Kapur at a tender age, her acting career took a backseat. The filmmaker and the actress-singer are no longer together. In a recent interview, Suchitra spoke about her troubled marriage with Shekhar and his condition of not letting her work post-marriage.

She said, "My husband was very clear that he doesn't want his wife to act. I said, ‘Okay, no big deal.’ I was too naive, too young to understand ki jab koi kisi ko bolta hai ki kaam mat karo, wo thinking kya hai. I always had more talent than ambition so I didn't think anything would stop in my life. Though it did."

Talking about parting ways with him after over a decade of marriage, Suchitra shared, "Actually, when I got pregnant, main shadi chhod rahi thi. I was moving to the Berklee College of Music. Mujhe part scholarship mil gaya tha and I wanted to learn music because it was always my dream. But I discovered I was pregnant. So fate has its own way of unravelling itself and unravelling your life story. So I stayed for a few years phir I was like, forget it mere se nahi hota. I remember a lot of very posh ladies telling me, ‘You’ll be finished. Just have another baby.' A lot of women do that. When marriage is in peril, bachcha kar lete hain. So maine kaha nahi, what's the big deal? I would rather be on my own and live my own story with dignity then carry on in something that's soul-crushing for me, that's not serving me, just for status and image and money. Maine bola tha main ja ke jhopdi mein rahungi, mujhe kuchh nahi chahiye."

Suchitra and Shekhar have a daughter named Kaveri. She's a singer.

(Source: Siddharth Kannan interview)