Sonali Bendre On How She Dealt With Link-Up Rumours: ‘I Learnt A Lesson'

News18

08-05-2025

Last Updated:
Sonali Bendre recently disclosed how she handled link-up rumours during the initial years of her career.
Sonali Bendre has always been admired for her incredible acting skills. Besides her acting stint, the actress has been known for her frank manner. Recently, Bendre revealed how she navigated through link-up rumours early in her career. The veteran actress was often linked to her co-stars when she started working.
In a recent interview, when Sonali Bendre was asked about the same, the Aag actress revealed how she learnt from her mistakes. 'You learn to grow slightly thicker skin. I didn't make the same mistake twice. Once I learnt a lesson, I understood that this is how it works, and then I knew how to deal with it and nip it in the butt the next time. So, it never happened again," she told Zoom.
In the same conversation, the actress mentioned she had to change schools every two years due to her father's transferable job, and this helped her in dealing with the link-up rumours.
Bendre was born to a civil servant father and studied in Kendriya Vidyalaya. She said, 'I was just a quick learner. I adapted well. I think the fact that I travelled—every two years, I was in a new school, adapting to new situations made me the person who didn't crave for attention all the time, who didn't need validation all the time and who was happy to be alone and with herself, because that was my childhood. When you keep constantly moving, you can deal with that peer pressure."
The Hum Saath-Saath Hain actress continued, 'I learnt how to deal with it, where I realised that sometimes it's an overactive imagination of the journalist. Because today, you talk about clickbait, that time, it was headlines, and that headline sold the magazine," adding how she navigated through the unethical practice of yellow journalism prevalent in those days. 'But sometimes it was because either the producer wanted the PR or the actor wanted to feel good about themselves, and that's why they were putting it out," she mentioned.
Despite all this, she also discussed the perks of her job and pondered the probable reasons behind those rumours that spread like wildfire. 'There were multiple reasons for things to go out. So, you couldn't blame any one person. That was the circumstance and a part of the environment. So, the fact was that the same environment was giving me fame, money, and work. I just started looking at it as the pros and the cons of the job," Bendre concluded.
On the personal front, Bendre is married to filmmaker Goldie Behl, son of director Ramesh Behl. FYI: They met each other for the first time on the sets of her 1994 film Naaraaz, directed by Mahesh Bhatt. The duo instantly felt a spark and gradually started dating. After a couple of years of courtship, the actress tied the knot with Behl on November 12, 2002. They were blessed with their son in 2005. The actress will reportedly feature in an untitled action-thriller series alongside Ali Fazal next.
First Published: