Anita Rani has admitted she didn't feel "free" when she was married as she is now "beginning to breathe for the first time".
The Countryfile presenter, 46, split from her husband Bhupi Rehal in 2023 after 14 years together. She has admitted divorce isn't "easy to talk about" due to her being raised by her Indian-born Sikh mother and Indian-born Hindu father. They saw her decision as a "cardinal sin" but Anita has insisted she now feels "answerable to no one".
The TV and radio star has moved back into a flat that she had bought around 20 years ago and turned it into a “Parisienne dream house” now she is living on her own. Anita tied the knot with tech guru, Bhupi, in Bradford, West Yorkshire, in 2009 before splitting in September last year.
"Becoming single in my mid-forties has made me re-evaluate everything," she said about the split. "It has made me see how much I have been conditioned to be a dutiful woman, rather than a free woman," Anita told the Sunday Times. "I was raised to be a high achiever, to make my parents and family proud, but I was also raised never to bring shame."
Anita recently wore a 'naked' frock and towering platform heels as she attended the BAFTAs. Many believed Anita wore the gorgeous look to have a Princess Diana "revenge dress" moment. However, the One Show host insisted her outfit was about a "woman owning who she is".
Find out about BBC presenter Anita Rani
Anita and Bhupi split last year after 14 years together (itsanitarani/Instagram)
She recently stunned at this year's BAFTAs (BAFTA via Getty Images)Speaking to Lorraine Kelly on her titular show, the radio host said she wanted to "embody confidence" with her daring look after suffering a "hard few years", following the sudden loss of her auntie. Correcting those who called her outfit a "revenge dress", she insisted: "It's not a revenge dress it is a woman owning who she is dress.
"I would not have worn that dress 10 years ago. I probably would have worried about this about my arms and my thighs or all that nonsense. But for some reason I am wearing that dress, it's not wearing me. I just think there is something about a woman, a transformation, where you just embody a bit of confidence."
Anita shared: "I've had a hard few years, my life has changed. I lost an auntie, during lockdown and I've not spoken about that. It was really hard, we were very close and she wasn't even 60. And she was an amazing woman who did everything for everybody else, as a lot of the women around me have done. And then you realise well maybe she should have lived for herself a bit more. And here I am with this amazing opportunity and privileged life which I've worked very hard for.
"So what do you do? Do you continue or do you make a choice like none of the women in my family have done. I have gone through therapy, I have an amazing woman who has helped me get to an amazing place and I used to be the person who thought: 'Oh how will that help?'"
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