EXCLUSIVE: “It caused more anxiety than freedom”- Kabir Bedi on his open marriage with Protima

April 13, 2021 - 2:34 PM IST

Actor Kabir Bedi will soon be launching his book, Stories I Must Tell: The Emotional Journey of an Actor. In the book,which Kabir calls revelatory has opened up about his journey as an actor in Bollywood and his personal relationships.The actor was married thrice. He was first married to Protima who is the mother of his first born Pooja Bedi. However, theirs was an open marriage. In the book, he has spoken in detail about all his relationships and how each began and ended and the difficulties he faced during the relationship.

EXCLUSIVE: “It caused more anxiety than freedom”- Kabir Bedi on his open marriage with Protima

In an interview with Bollywood Hungama, ahead of the release of his book, when asked if he had thought of how Pooja might feel reading about her mother Protima in the book, he said, “I didn't worry about that much. Pooja knows about the history herself. There is nothing in the book that will surprise Pooja greatly. There might be some aspects that might. But overall, Pooja knew her mother very well. She knew a lot of things that happened. She was there for a lot of things that happened even though she was a child. But then growing up you remember, your mother reminds you, your father reminds you. So, it was not like Pooja was not aware of all the things that happened. So I wasn't particularly concerned about how my writing about Protima might affect Pooja . Because I was sure in a larger sense it will not. I would like to believe that I have done great justice in writing about her and I have written it as honestly I can.”

Further he narrated an incident involving Protima when he went nude for a magazine shoot and said how an open marriage brings in more anxiety than the freedom one expects to achieve. “When Protima came to me in Malaysia she said that ‘I have streaked’. Streaking is somebody running naked on a stage or street generally protesting something. And I didnt know what she is talking about. She said I have streaked and somebody photographed and put it in a magazine. She wasn't telling me the truth about how or why she streaked. Later it turned out she did it as a publicity stunt for a magazine.”

“At that time, I was shooting for Sandokan. I wanted to focus my whole energy on getting this right. I was given the lead in a European television series. I wanted to make the most of it. I didn't want it to upset the equilibrium that my wife had gone streaking in public. So I didn't make a fuss about it. I was like the deed is done and there is nothing I can do about it. I have to focus on what I have to do. People could not understand how I could accept my wife streaking. How I wouldn't walk out on her or I wouldn't throw her out of the house. How could I possibly live with such a woman. That was the age we lived in. That was the openness and tolerance we were trying to achieve . That was what we hoped open marriage would give us that freedom. In the end of course, it caused more anxiety than freedom and therefore it ended. But those things are not hidden from our children. They know about them. So I wasn't upset or worried about writing about them. They knew about it,” he added.

ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE: “Indian press made it out to be that I had shattered her emotionally and therefore she went crazy”- Kabir Bedi on his relationship with Parveen Babi