After months of speculation about the power couple of Bollywood, Arbaaz Khan and Malaika Arora Khan breaking up, things have finally come to a head. Despite their family’s best efforts to patch things up between the couple, their 18-year-old marriage has crumbled. 

The pair has given a joint statement for a popular daily. We have an extract from the statement for our readers.

“The truth is, we have taken a break, but that doesn’t mean people can presume, assume and speculate things of such malicious nature. We are taking out time to figure out our lives... Yes, it’s true that we are separated, but where our lives go and what transpires between us, it is for us to decide. Wherever it goes from here, we will talk about it when we are ready to,” they told the daily.

From the time the two have walked down the aisle to now, after more than a decade of togetherness, they have been bogged down by such allegations. It was mostly being written off as publicity stunt and blamed on the nature of the profession. But there’s never any smoke without fire, eh?

The hot couple, who signed up to be the face of Power Couple, stirred up the rumours when one half of the power jodi aka Malaika was missing from most of the episodes. That’s when the rumour mills started churning full time.  Even though the show was touted to be about the Khans helping other couples survive the show, Mrs Khan was mostly missing from the action.

The buzz went around further when the duo skipped out on Arpita Khan and Ayush Sharma’s baby shower on February 14 this year. The soon-to-be mommy and her dearest hubby had an elaborate celebration at one of Mumbai’s posh hotels.

While the afternoon affair saw the best of Bollywood in attendance, one pair that was missing from the fun (and all the pictures shared by the guests) was of the Khans who had separate V-Day plans. While Arbaaz was working out in the gym, Malaika was out with her girl gang at an undisclosed location.

In fact, a blind item in one of the popular gossip sites even hinted at the couple living separately.

There were other nasty rumours in the past too…about Malaika allegedly having a torrid affair with brother-in-law Salman Khan’s protégé Arjun Kapoor. But the two have vehemently denied the involvement of a third party.

Arbaaz and Malika have a fourteen-year-old son Arhaan. With the two urging the media for privacy, the least we can do during their tough time is to let them be.                                                                                       

Here is the entire statement:

We have maintained a dignified silence till now but it is causing us too much confusion and is disturbing for our families. To put all of the speculation to rest, we are giving out this statement. People claiming to be our friends and sources have been speaking on our behalf giving out wrong, malicious information. They have maligned us for long and we have kept quiet and not said a word as it’s a personal matter between us. We have got a child and our families are involved, but just because we have not said anything till now, it doesn’t give anybody the license to speculate on any rubbish about us.

We know that there will be speculation, but it is disturbing to read that Malaika has approached a random divorce lawyer she doesn’t know at all. Nor has this lawyer got in touch with us ever. Whoever this person is, can lose their licence as it’s irresponsible to talk about people who are not your clients.

The truth is, we have taken a break, but that doesn’t mean people can presume, assume and speculate things of such malicious nature. We are taking out time to figure out our lives... Yes, it’s true that we are separated, but where our lives go and what transpires between us, it is for us to decide. Wherever it goes from here, we will talk about it when we are ready to.

We are not separated because of a third random person, like there were stories of a friendship between a businessman and Malaika. Nor was it about his family disapproving of her lifestyle, nor does she feel that her husband is not financially stable. She is not crying on her brother-in-law Salman’s shoulders, asking him to help. They are our family, so please don’t talk about them like that. We deeply respect each other’s families. We want to put to rest all these articles which are complete rubbish. Till then, please respect our privacy and do not drag our respective families and our child into it.

Everything that has been carried till now is completely baseless.. Everyone is taking our silence as a sign of weakness. When we are ready to talk, we will. It’s a tough and difficult time for us and we will appreciate it if you can please give us our space. We have and hold immense respect for each other and hold each other in the highest regard. Ultimately we will do what’s best for our child, us and our family. Please understand what we are going through. We urge the media not to speculate and kindly do not believe whoever your said sources are, unless you hear from the people concerned.”

Shocking...isn’t it?