Sushmita Sen says she came close to getting married thrice but men were a ‘let down’: ‘God saved me’

In her chat with Sushmita, she asked the star about her love life–Sushmita has famously remained unmarried, and broken stereotypes when she became an adoptive single mother at the age of 24 back in the day. Twinkle asked her how she has managed to be so open about her relationships over the years, especially at a time when the men in the industry were pretending to be ‘virgins’.

Sushmita said, “Khud ko khoya, toh kya paaya (If you lose yourself, then who are you)? That’s been my standard belief in life. I just wanted to be honest and speak my mind, and learn how to say it gracefully… Be it plastic surgery, men in my life, relationships, married men, whatever you think is a bad thing, it exists, get over it.”

She continued, “If you think it’s a social evil, tumhara dimaag chota hain, tumhara dil chota hain, samne wala insaan chota nahin hain. Tumhe kya lagta hain humne koi galtiyain nahi ki life me? Daba ke kiya hai. Danke ki chot pe kiya hai (It’s not the person who is small, but others’ mindset and heart. You think we have not made any mistake in life? We have done plenty). I don’t carry any guilt about them, because I never bullsh*t about them.”

Twinkle also asked Sushmita if she ever felt getting married would be difficult because she was a mother–the judge had asked her this when she was adopting Renee-or if marriage ‘was of no consequence’ to her. Sushmita said, “Once I became a mother and Renee happened, forget Alisah, when Renee happened, there was no man thereafter, who came into my life and didn’t know my priority was her. There was no two ways about it. So, it wasn’t like, ‘I love you baby and I’ll do anything for you’, because I wasn’t that age, one. And two, I wasn’t giving false hopes anywhere. This was it. My daughter is very, very important to me, till a certain age, because she needs me. Now, I don’t expect anybody to come and share the responsibility with me, but never try and ask me to step away from it.”

She continued, “Luckily, I’ve met some very interesting men in my life, and the only reason I didn’t get married is because they were a letdown. It had nothing to do with my kids. My kids were never in the equation, if anything, they’ve been very gracious. They have accepted people in my life with open arms, given everybody an equal measure of love and respect. It’s the most beautiful thing to watch. I came close to getting married thrice. All three times God saved me. I can’t tell you what disasters followed with their respective lives. God did protect me, but also because God protected these two kids, he can’t let me get into a messy affair.”

Sushmita entered the film industry after winning the Miss Universe crown in 1994. After a brief sabbatical, she got a second lease of life as an actor with the Hotstar series Aarya, which aired its second season last year.