Tiger Pataudi was devastated about losing grandkids after Saif Ali Khan’s divorce; Sharmila Tagore says, ‘Amrita Singh needed time to cool down’

Sharmila Tagore looked back on the difficult time during Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh's separation, and said that losing access to the children hurt the most.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | December 28, 2023 10:40 AM IST

3 min read

saif ali khan sharmila tagore koffee with karan

Sharmila Tagore recently opened up about her experience as a parent.

cActor Saif Ali Khan opened up about his separation from first wife Amrita Singh, on the latest episode of Koffee with Karan. Saif was joined on the episode by his mother, Sharmila Tagore. He said that getting married at the young age of 21 was unusual, and that his mother was very ‘hurt’ by his secret decision to tie the knot, but that he and Amrita share a respectful relationship now. They have two adult children, Sara Ali Khan and Ibrahim Ali Khan.

“Unfortunately, doing it at 20 is young, and things change, but it was great support, she was wonderful to me. She is the mother of two of my children. I have a good relationship with her and it’s all respectful now,” he said, and added, “It’s very bad when these things don’t work out, only for the children, and it’s not something you want for them…”

Also read – Sharmila Tagore ‘started crying’ when Saif Ali Khan told her he’d secretly married Amrita Singh: ‘You really hurt me’

Saif said that his decision to secretly tie the knot with Amrita, who was several years his senior, didn’t sit too well with Sharmila, who’d expressly told him not to get married. She said on the episode that she was ‘hurt’ when Saif broke the news to her, a day after tying the knot, and that she subsequently met Amrita the day after that. Saif learned his lesson, and said that the ‘first person’ he spoke to before his separation was his mother. “She took a deep breath, and there was another pause on the phone, and she said, ‘I’m with you, if that’s what you want’. And that helped a lot,” he said.

Sharmila said that it’s understandable for their to be disharmony in moments like this, especially when children are involved. “When you are together for such a long time, and you have two lovely children, then no breakup is easy. It’s difficult to have harmony at that stage, and it hurts. That stage was not nice. But I tried. That’s water under the bridge. She needed time to cool down. They worked it out together. It’s not just staying away, there are so many other things involved. It wasn’t a happy time for us, because Ibrahim was just three, and we were very, very fond of the children. Especially Tiger was very fond of Ibrahim, and he would say, ‘That’s a good lad’. And he didn’t get that time.”

Sharmila said that the family felt ‘doubly deprived’ to lose Amrita and both the kids. Unfortunately, Saif said, life isn’t like a Karan Johar movie. He expressed gratitude towards his family for taking the steps to make things amicable on all fronts, and said that it was nice of Amrita to send Sara to his his wedding with Kareena. Saif and Kareena have two children, Taimur and Jeh.

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