Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan had Aaradhya Bachchan on November 16, 2011.
If there is one Bollywood actor who has embraced motherhood like a pro, it has to be Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Be it accompanying her daughter Aaradhya to school or taking the toddler to an international film festival with her, Aishwarya has perfected the art of balancing her professional and personal life. So how does she do it all? Here is everything that Aishwarya has had to say about Aaradhya in her previous interviews:
How does she handle it?
In a recent interview with Vogue where Aishwarya was the cover girl along with international singer Pharell Williams, she shared how it is all about perspective. “If you believe you’re tired, you will be, so I choose to find pleasure in the moment and experience the present for what it is. I’m a firm believer of the state of the mind, and that’s the means to keep your head above a high level of water, every day.”
Aishwarya also added how this is one of the golden lessons she is trying to bestow on her daughter too. “That’s something I’m imparting to Aaradhya—that B-positive is not just a blood group and that everything in life is a learning curve. Experience life in the moment, because you’re going to have to live with your experience,” she tells Vogue.
Photos of Aaradhya and Aishwarya with Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan.
The struggle is real
But like every other modern mother, the struggle for Aishwarya is very real. She remarked how the common perception is that since she is a celebrity, she must be equipped with “an army of help” but that is so not the case. Aishwarya quipped, “It’s busy! In the superlative. I spend all my time with Aaradhya, and I have one nanny, by choice. I read comments saying, “Ah, she must have an army of help” and I understand the perception, but I choose this way, which means life is always busy. I respect homemakers for the endless work they do.”
Ensuring a ‘normal’ childhood
With the kind of attention that celebrity kids are conferred with these days, it is nearly impossible for parents to ensure a normal upbringing for their child. Heady of the fact, Aishwarya told Hindustan Times in a previous interview how she tries to be a very normal mother with Aaradhya throughout. She said, “I have gone with her everywhere. I go to her school every day. I have done normal things with her like taken her to the park, visited temples, gone to the supermarket etc., so that she understands what ‘normal normal’ is and what social excitement is.”
Aaradhya’s reaction?
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Aaradhya at the toddler’s birthday party. (Source: Instagram)
While it is definitely difficult for celebrities to deal with the endless paparazzi, it is equally tough for star-kids. On being asked if Aaradhya realises the kind of attention she gets from the media, Aishwarya pointed out how she is just a child and how she can’t casually say that she understands it. But she also added how she would like to believe that Aaradhya does realise that it happens very sporadically. Aishwarya said, “I haven’t made a conversation out of it. But it can never be normal as there is nothing normal about it. Aaradhya has seen it since she was a baby, while I was exposed to it only in my twenties. Is it normal to her? I don’t know. It can’t be normal to see human beings behave strangely. But also it’s not like she woke up one day and experienced it. She has seen crowds outside our gates, media outside the airports and I would like to believe that she realises that it happens sporadically.”
Her special message
In an interview to Femina, when Aishwarya was asked if there is a special message that she would like to leave with her daughter, she said, “Aaradhya is god’s child, her own person, a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious soul. I’m blessed to have her as my daughter. All I’d like to say to her is that she can make and do what she wants with her life.”