The 77-year-old legendary actor, Asha Parekh who dominated the silver screen through the 70s still manages to be an inspiration. From speaking up about the importance of mental health and therapy to openly admitting who she chose to remain single all these years, she has been a force to reckon with.
In a recent interview with Verve, the actress touched upon the topic of her choosing the single life, and how she never quite understood the concept of marriage. The evergreen beauty narrated incidents of when her fellow actors cheated and the wives forgave, just one of the things she couldn’t bring herself to accept.
Staying alone was probably one of the best decisions I made. I was in love with a married man and didn’t want to be a homewrecker so, in retrospect, it was the only choice I had, according to the way I wanted to live my life.
-Asha Parekh to Verve
Despite the day and age she lived in, she chose her self-respect over society’s standards and expectations from women. The actress revealed in her biography, The Hit Girl that she was in love with director Nasir Hussain but chose to distance herself from him because of his marital status.
Being the leading lady during the era, she clearly received a lot of male attention but her decision to remain single, she revealed was based on the fact that she couldn’t have someone dictating her. She admitted to enjoying her own company, and travelling the world with her friends Waheeda Rehman and Helen instead of tying the knot.
Read the full interview here.