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While Pawan Kalyan married a Russian actor, Anna Lezhneva, a few years later, Renu never remarried.
Pawan Kalyan and Renu Desai filed for divorce in 2011.
Actor Renu Desai, who had an intense romance and marriage with actor-politician Pawan Kalyan in the early 2000s, reflected on her personal life after their divorce. Pawan went on to marry Russian actor Anna Lezhneva in 2013, but Renu chose not to remarry. In a candid conversation on the Nikhil Vijayendra Simha podcast, she explained why she has stayed single and even called off her 2018 engagement.
When asked if she ever feels the need for a partner to share her life with, Renu shared, “Of course, I feel like having a partner too. But it’s my sense of responsibility towards my kids that stops me from doing it. If I look at it individually, yes, I should have a boyfriend, I should have a marriage, I should have a life. But when I look at it from the kids’ point of view…”
She went on to discuss the breakup of her 2018 engagement, revealing, “I tried again, I got engaged; it was like an arranged thing. But I realised I will not be able to do justice either to the relationship or to the kids. I’m a single parent. It’s different when you marry someone and have kids with them. But when you’ve had kids with someone, it’s a sensitive thing for someone else to enter the equation. I’m waiting for Aadhya to grow up; she’s 15 now, maybe when she’s 18 and off to college.”
Renu and Pawan’s relationship was once the talk of the town, especially after their collaboration in films like Badri and Johnny. The couple married in 2009 and welcomed two children—Akira Nandan in 2004 and Aadhya in 2010—before filing for divorce in 2011, finalising it in 2012. Meanwhile, Pawan married Anna in 2013, and they have two children together.
Renu also opened up about her career post-divorce. She returned to the screen with the 2021 TV show Radhamma Kuthuru and starred in the 2023 film Tiger Nageswara Rao. She has also signed more projects that she plans to announce soon. In 2014, she directed and produced the Marathi film Ishq Wala Love.