A knotty equation

The moment Serena Williams announced her engagement to co-founder and executive chairman of Reddit Alexis Ohanian, people couldn’t help but imagine how dating a celebrity could be a challenging exercise. But, more celebrities these days are engaged or are happily married to CEOs and founders of popular companies. Take for instance, supermodel Miranda Kerr, who’s engaged to Evan Spiegel, the founder and CEO of Snapchat. Singer Janet Jackson is married to Wissam Saleh Al Mana, a Qatari business magnate. Uma Thurman is dating hotelier André Balazs. Back home, Asin is married to Rahul Sharma, the CEO of Micromax. Preity Zinta is married to LA-based businessman Gene Goodenough. Juhi Chawla, too, is married to industrialist Jay Mehta. Rumours that Sonam Kapoor is dating businessman Anand Ahuja are also doing the rounds.

Nisha Aggarwal is married to businessman Karan Valecha

But keeping up with a celebrity lifestyle is not as easy as it looks. Coming from completely different fields, it can be very challenging. Unless one travels often with the partner, one may still feel alone. Why then do businessmen risk dating a celeb.

Asin married Rahul Sharma, the CEO of Micromax, last year

Tollywood actor Ram Charan is married to Upasana Kamineni, the vice-chairman of Apollo Life. She says, “The relationship is the same. Even though we’re from different industries, we’re like any other couple. We both love and respect the industries that we work in — that’s important. We do take time to talk about work, but he doesn’t get too involved with my work life, neither do I get too involved with his. We like learning about each other’s industries.”

Actress Nisha Aggarwal, who is married to businessman Karan Valecha, says, “It’s never easy. You have to make it work. I was dating Karan for five years before we got married. I was actively doing films then. He would take time off for me and visit. I would do the same for him. I think a long distance relationship is lovely in its own way. But there is always a tension. For instance, I was filming continuously for two-three months, and when he wouldn’t come to meet me, it would make me anxious. But then he could be busy too. We make it up by going on a vacation and spending time together.”

Tamil actress Ananya got married to businessman Anjeneyan. According to the actress, the decision to marry someone outside her field has no way affected her work. “I don’t know about others but mine is a love marriage, and I am still working in films. My husband and my family have always been supportive of my acting career. My marriage has not affected it in anyway,” she says.

With inputs from Kirubhakar Purushothaman