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Neena Gupta continued her affair with Vivian Richards for ‘a few years’ after Masaba’s birth: ‘It was long distance’

Neena Gupta wrote about the time when she found out about her pregnancy and decided to call Vivian Richards.

Vivian Richards was married, and Neena Gupta was single when they welcomed Masaba Gupta. (Photo: Masaba Gupta/Instagram)

When Neena Gupta became pregnant with her daughter Masaba in 1989, the actor knew that the decision to go ahead with the pregnancy would be life-changing for her, especially because she was unmarried and the father of the baby, Vivian Richards, was an internationally renowned cricketer. In her autobiography, Sach Kahun Toh, Neena recalled that after finding out about her pregnancy, she was “giddy with joy”. But, she believed that she should also consult Vivian, and when he gave his go-ahead, she was relieved.

Neena shared in her book that she first met Vivian at a dinner party hosted by the Maharani of Jaipur. She recalled that a day before this, she had watched him play. Upon meeting him, they “hit it off instantly”. Neena shared that they lost touch when he went back as “we hadn’t exchanged numbers, so we didn’t know how to contact each other.”

After a while, they met again at the Delhi airport and soon after, they started an affair. “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.”

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Neena also realised that Vivian had a say in this situation so she asked him if he had a problem with her having his baby. “I also understood that I wasn’t the only person who had a say in the situation. The baby’s father, Vivian, had an equal right. So, I called him one day and spoke to him for a long tome,” she wrote and added, “‘I’m pregnant’, I told him. ‘Would you have a problem if I were to have your baby?’ Vivian sounded happy and said I should go ahead. This assured me that I was doing the right thing. As much as I wanted this child, I also did not want to go ahead if the father wasn’t on board. So, it came as a relief when Vivian supported my decision.”

After Masaba’s birth, “Vivian was as involved as possible” and Neena and Vivian’s relationship went through different phases. At the time, Vivian was already married. “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.

Neena raised Masaba as a single mother. She got married at the age of 59 to Vivek Mehra, who is a Chartered Accountant by profession.

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