I had to rescue myself, my dignity and my self-respect,” says Celina Jaitly as she returns to India. Married in 2010 and based in Austria for years, the actress is back in Mumbai amid a turbulent personal chapter. She has filed a domestic violence case against her husband, Peter Haag, and is also grappling with the crisis of her brother Major (retired) Vikrant Jaitly being detained in the UAE since 2024. In an exclusive interview with us, Celina speaks about this trying phase of her life, asserting that she intends to stand her ground and fight with dignity through it all. On social media, you would post fun videos with your kids – Winston, Viraaj, Arthur. However, at home, it seems the story was far from rosy. You recently admitted that there have been cracks in your marriage for years. How long have you been living in an unhappy marriage?What appears on social media is only a fragment of real life. I had been battling an unhealthy marriage for several years before it became visible to the outside world. Like many women, I tried to preserve some sense of normalcy for my children while navigating very difficult realities in private.
Do you regret being in a bad marriage for so many years and do you wish you had moved back to India sooner?I don’t regret trying to keep my family together because my intentions were always sincere. Losing both my parents made me deeply insecure about walking away and standing up for myself. I had already lost my emotional anchors, and I feared losing everything else – my financial independence and above all, my children. I felt an overwhelming responsibility to give them a stable home, to respect the culture they had grown up in, and to ensure they did not have to be abruptly pulled away from an environment that felt like home – their schools, routines and their entire world. All of that had to be protected before I could even think of protecting myself.You lost both your parents in 2018. Is your brother your only immediate family apart from your kids?Apart from my children and my brother, I also have my 95-year-old grandmother, who I love deeply and others who I have not been closely in touch. I did reach out to some of them, but unfortunately, they chose to distance themselves from the situation for reasons best known to them. This journey has revealed who truly stands by you when life becomes difficult.
Celina Jaitly, who comes from an armed forces family, with her parents and brother in a throwback picture
Your brother, Major (retd) Vikrant Kumar Jaitly has been detained in Abu Dhabi since last September. Has it been a lone battle to free him? What’s the development? When was the last time you spoke to him?I am not entirely alone, but I am the one relentlessly pursuing every possible legal and diplomatic avenue. The matter is extremely sensitive and ongoing, and I must be cautious about the details. The lack of free communication with my brother has been one of the most painful aspects of this ordeal.Tell us about your relationship with your brother. Would you talk to him about the troubles you were facing in your marriage?We laughed together, cried together, joked endlessly, and we stood shoulder to shoulder, while caring for our dying parents. Those experiences forged a bond that goes beyond words. Yes, he was absolutely my strength. I turned to him when my marriage was falling apart. He listened without judgement, grounded me, and reminded me of who I was when I began doubting myself.Are you back in India to start afresh?Returning to India was not optional; it was essential. I had to rescue myself, my dignity, and my self-respect. After being served a divorce notice under the pretext of collecting a gift ordered for me at the post office, I was deeply shaken to realise that further efforts were being made to strip me of my independence even after the marriage had ended. Returning to my home ground allowed me to stand tall, fight with my head held high, and reclaim my voice. Are you planning to make a comeback to acting?My work is not just a profession, it is a form of expression. I am deeply grateful for it because, in many ways, my work is rescuing me on multiple levels emotionally, financially, and psychologically. It restores my sense of agency and purpose.You have been going through testing times in the past few years. How have these experiences reshaped your understanding of inner strength and self-worth?The last few years stripped me of everything that was superficial and forced me to confront who I am at my core. I learned that inner strength is quiet and consistent, not performative. Self-worth today comes from knowing that I stood up for myself, my children, and my family values even when it was frightening to do so.
