‘My birth certificate was leaked to prove I am illegitimate’: Masaba Gupta recalls hardships mom Neena Gupta faced

Designer and actor Masaba Gupta opens up about about how the media used information regarding her birth and parents Neena Gupta and Vivian Richards in an unacceptable manner.

Designer Masaba Gupta with mother Neena Gupta. (Photo: Instagram/Masaba Gupta)

Actor Neena Gupta has had a storied career which has lasted over 40 years. Despite her performances, the actor’s relationship with cricketer Vivian Richards and ultimately the birth of their daughter, Masaba Gupta, has always been many tabloids’ favourite story. In a recent interview, Masaba talked about how the media and their coverage of her mother’s life affected her as a child and how it made things extremely difficult for Neena.

While appearing on the YouTube channel Mojo Story, Masaba talked about how her birth certificate was stolen from the hospital and how it was used to prove that she was an illegitimate child. She said, “My birth certificate was stolen from the hospital I was born in, and then it was leaked to the press. It was on the front page of a newspaper because someone wanted to prove that I was an illegitimate child.” When Barkha Dutt recalled how a section of media wanted to prove that her father was Viv Richards, Masaba said it was brutal.

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She continued the story and called the whole episode a very cruel thing, which affected her mother Neena Gupta in a negative way. “I think I understood it when I was 9-10 years old. I didn’t fully understand it, but I had seen versions of it. I didn’t understand why it was done. It was cruel, strange and very bad for my mother. I can sit here and feel sad about it, but I don’t really know how she did it. People in general are very cruel, and I don’t understand why people had to do that. I keep hearing that ‘showbiz is like this’, but this is unacceptable,” said Masaba.

After giving birth to Masaba, her mother, Neena, decided to raise her on her own. However, she has often talked about how she doesn’t really agree with the ‘single-mother’ tag, as her family supported her a lot after her daughter’s birth. In an interview with Pinkvilla, Neena said, “I was a single mother for maybe two years. Then my dad came. He left everything…my dad came, and he stayed with me. He looked after my household, me, and my daughter. He was my man. He was the man in my life.”

Neena had written about her relayionship with Viv Richards in her book, Sach Kahu To. “Vivian and I had an affair and I got pregnant. He had already returned home when I found out,” she wrote. She continued, “Some people advised me to get an abortion. Others cautioned against the perils of being a single parent. I listened to everyone patiently. They were all very concerned, I know. But once I was back home and alone, I asked myself: What do you think? How does this make you feel? The answer was: I was giddy with joy.”

Vivian was already married at the time. “Our relationship continued on and off for a few years and we had some beautiful moments and also some ugly ones. It was long distance and a very different kind of relationship,” she wrote.

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