Rekha opens up about her love affair with Amitabh Bachchan: blast from the past

Bollywood’s veteran actors Rekha and Amitabh Bachchan and their longstanding history together is no news for the world.

And while BigB has time and again denied having an affair with the icon, she had been quite open about dating him, who at that time, was married to Jaya Bachchan.

In an unearthed interview with Filmfare, from back in 1984, Rekha had revealed that Amitabh kept denying their love affair to protect his public image.

“Why should he have not done it? He did it to protect his image, to protect his family, to protect his children. I think it is beautiful, I don’t care what the public thinks of it. Why should the public know of my love for him or his love for me? I love him, he loves me – that’s it!” she said.

“I don’t care what anybody thinks. If he’d reacted that way towards me in private, I would have been very disappointed. But has he ever done that? I ask you. So why should I care about what he’s said in public?”

“I know people must be saying bechari Rekha, pagal hai us par, phir bhi dekho. Maybe I deserve that pity. Not that he has 10 rollicking affairs! Mr Bachchan is still old-fashioned. He doesn’t want to hurt anybody, so why hurt his wife?” she added.

“We are human beings who love and accept each other for what we are. There’s more happiness in our lives than misery. Nothing else matters. But as long as I’m with that person, I don’t care. I cannot identify me with anyone else. Don’t publish this. For he’ll deny it. Then I’ll affirm it.”

“Then there will be a statement from his camp saying, ‘No, no. she is nuts like Parveen Babi.’ Then I’ll say ‘No, no. Parveen Babi is not here, but here I am to issue a statement.’ Anyway, why should I be talking to you about my personal life? I am a very creative person. I have a lot of interests. People love talking about my personal life. But I want to keep it to myself. Mr Bachchan is important to me, not to anybody else,” she said.