Kabir Bedi on suffering ‘financial disasters,’ his son’s suicide: ‘Could not save him, suffered immense guilt…’

Siddharth, son of Kabir and his first wife Protima, was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He died by suicide in 1997 at the age of 26. During an Aaj Tak event, the actor said he has written about this phase with utmost honesty in his autobiography, Stories I Must Tell: The Emotional Life of an Actor.

 

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“I suffered heavy losses due to bad investments. This happened at a time when my son was suffering from schizophrenia, there is a chapter in my book too which details how I dealt with it and how people should deal with it. I tried to prevent him from suicide. When the tragedy did happen, and I couldn’t save him, I suffered immense guilt,” he said at the event.

The veteran said the phase–coupled with the loss of his son– brought with it a heavy financial crisis, which left him “emotionally devastated”.

“At the same time, I faced financial disasters, to the extent that I would go for auditions and didn’t kn0w what I was doing. I lost a lot of work, didn’t recover money, the money that I had, I lost that too and I was emotionally devastated.

“How I picked myself up from there and climbed back, all of this is mentioned in the book. Everyone goes through tragedies, setbacks but you can learn how to deal with them through the experiences of others,” he added.

Kabir Bedi and Protima had two children, Siddharth and actor Pooja Bedi. After their divorce in 1974, he went into a relationship with actor Parveen Babi, but they never got married.