Mumbai: Actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu and her ex-husband actor Naga Chaitanya have moved on after their divorce.
Naga Chaitanya is all set to walk down the aisle for the second time, with Sobhita Dhulipala, while his former wife Samantha is focusing on her work, taking up challenging roles in movies.
However, life after divorce has been quite tough for Samantha. She got labelled as ‘second hand’ and ‘used’ by society.
“When a woman goes through a divorce, there is a lot of shame and stigma attached to that. I get a lot of comments saying, ‘second hand, used, wasted life’. You are pushed into a corner where you are supposed to feel like a failure. You are supposed to feel guilt and shame that you were once married, and now you are not. It can be really hard for families and girls who have gone through that,” Samantha opened up in the course of an interview with Galatta India.
The ‘Citadel’ actress explained why she had restyled her wedding gown into a dress after divorce.
“Initially, it hurt. Then I decided to flip it. I’ll own it. I am separated, I am divorced. Things haven’t been a fairytale, but that does not mean I sit in a corner, cry about it, and never have the courage to live again. It wasn’t any kind of revenge or anything although it looked like it. It was just that ‘yes, this happened’ but it doesn’t mean my life ends there. It begins where it ends. I am happy, doing good work, with incredible people, and looking forward to the next phase of my life.”
Samantha and Naga started dating after working together in ‘Ye Maaya Chesave’ in 2010.
The got married in Goa as per traditional Hindu customs on October 6, 2017, followed by Christian custom a day later.
Days ahead of their fourth anniversary, the couple announced their separation in October 2021.