Looking Back At 5 Biggest South Indian Celebrity Divorce Cases

In a country where divorce continues to be stigmatised, the news of celebrities getting divorced garners a lot of attention. Many people are so obsessed with their favourite celebrity couple that they cannot stand the fact that they are separating. Why this crazy obsession with celebrity couples, though?

A lot of people idolise celebrity relationships and consider it a personal dejection when their favourite couple part ways. Quite often, it’s the woman who gets blamed for the separation. Taking it as a personal attack, some netizens spew hate comments on social media, assassinate her character, or sometimes hurl abuse at the couple for breaking up.

Just because celebrities lead a largely public life, people seem to forget that they too are individuals with personal lives and issues of their own. Their lives aren’t as perfect as the media portrays them to be, and they too face ups and downs in their lives like any other person. When we wouldn’t want anyone to indulge in our private lives, how is it fair to comment on celebrities’ personal lives? Should fame cost someone their privacy and right to make a personal choice without receiving flak?

South Indian Celebrity Divorce Cases

Looking Back at Five South Indian Celebrity Divorce Cases That Garnered Attention in the past decade.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Naga Chaitanya

One of the biggest celebrity divorces in South India was when actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Naga Chaitanya announced their separation in October 2022 after being married for 4 years. Since then, Samantha Prabhu has been painted as the big villain, and a lot of baseless allegations have been made against the Family Man 2 actor. Even her battle with myositis and the poor performance of her film Shaakuntalam were considered karma for separating from Naga Chaitanya.

Aishwarya Rajnikanth and Dhanush

Superstar Ranjikanth’s elder daughter and director, Aishwarya, was married to actor Dhanush. With two adolescent sons, the couple decided to part ways in 2022 after 18 years of marriage. 

Announcing separation, Dhanush wrote in a Twitter post, "18 years of togetherness as friends, couple, as parents and well-wishers to each other. The journey has been of growth, understanding, adjusting and adapting."

Amala Paul and AL Vijay

Actor Amala Paul tied the knot with filmmaker AL Vijay in 2014 and officially parted ways in 2017. Again, Amala Paul was called out for being the reason behind the divorce. From infidelity to acting in bold roles, speculations were abundant. Paul was in a relationship with a Mumbai-based singer for a while; the duo reportedly parted ways later. AL Vijay, on the other hand, got married again and is a father to a girl child.

Manju Warrier and Dileep Kumar

Actor Manju Warrier, who made her comeback to the film industry with the film How Old Are You and has since had her own space in the industry even after a career break, revealed that her 16-year marriage came to an end in 2014. The couple have a teenage daughter who lives with Dileep, but Warrier has visitation rights to see her. Here too, Manju Warrior’s comeback to the film industry, daring to embrace her second innings at action, was pointed out as the cause.

Prabhu Deva and Ramlath

One of the most scandalous divorces in the South Indian film industry would be that of Prabhu Deva and Ramlath. The actor-choreographer was married to Ramlath, alias Latha, from 1995 to 2010. Prabhu Deva’s relationship with actor Nayanthara was pointed out as one of the main reasons for the separation, and here again, a woman was blamed—Nayanthara. Now that both Prabhu Deva and Nayanthara are married to different people and have children of their own. The logic behind blaming Nayanthara instead of Prabhu Deva fails to make sense.

It’s nice to see the love and admiration that people have for celebrities. However, there is a thin line between obsession and admiration. People need to realise that divorce is a couple’s personal choice, and then no one should criticise or judge celebrities for their decision. While divorce can be painful for the couple and their family, friends, and fans, if parting ways will lead to better lives for both individuals, why shouldn’t they take that plunge? Why should women often be considered villains?

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Views expressed by the author are their own