Bollywood actress Kajol recently opened up about her parents Shomu Mukherjee and Tanuja and revealed how it was like seeing their separation when she was just four and a half years old.
As per a report in HT, she acknowledged, “I had the most amazing upbringing ever. I am very lucky to have been brought up by such a forward-thinking, amazing person who taught me so much about life, growing up, and about being an adult from the time that I was a child. But I totally get if it had gone even slightly wrong what it would have been like.”
“My parents separated when I was about four-and-a-half years old and it could have gone very wrong. I have so many friends whose parents are together till today but not in the best spaces. They have not had great childhoods. I loved my father separately, I loved my mother separately and I loved them together as well,” she continued.
On not having the opportunity to play her parents against each other, Kajol laughed and said, “I tried very hard but both my parents were too smart. They are too evolved. Damn!”
Speaking about the cherished bond she has with her mother now, she explained, “I only understood my mother after I had my daughter. I always loved my mother, always admired her, and thought she was amazing. But after I had my daughter, I remember calling up my mother and having this whole crying conversation with her and telling her that ‘I know how much you love me today’.”
Recalling the conversation, Kajol continued, “At that time, I understood how much she loved me. I told her ‘Today, I understand what all you gave up for me, how you felt about everything in life just because you had me in it and how everything changed for you’.”
Kajol, who gave birth to daughter Nysa in the year 2003, added, “And also how much effort she put into being my mom. I got it only after I had my own daughter. I realized what it took to bring up a child. My respect for my mother went up 100 notches after that. Her entire life played out in front of me, and her entire life took on a completely different meaning after that.”