From dealing with criticism from relatives over not conceiving naturally to divorce rumours with Jay Bhanushali and facing trolls: Mahhi Vij gets candid

Mahhi Vij has won many hearts with her popular roles on the small screen. The actress recently appeared on a podcast with The Male Feminist, where she opened up about IVF, her motherhood journey, facing trolls, and much more. She even broke her silence on divorce rumours with husband Jay Bhanushali. Here’s a look:

“I’ve been a very confident person ever since I was young. I was very famous during my school time, and everyone would know that Mahhi is in this school. On Valentine’s Day, I used to take an empty bag and would get 100+ cards. There were guys who would cross the fence and come to meet me. A lot of things would happen in Delhi, and I wasn’t even aware why all of it was happening.”

“People would troll Tara a lot, and this affected me deeply. People would say, ‘Apni beti ko bacha rahi hai, makeup laga rahi hai,’ but she’s my daughter — I’ll do whatever I want. Why does anyone really care about it? Initially, I used to care a lot about others’ opinions about Tara. However, I don’t care at all anymore.”

“Jay is three years younger than me, and when we decided to get married, my family and his family had no problem with it. However, society had a lot to say about it. Talking about motherhood, I wanted to have a child before 30. However, that didn’t happen.”

“I’ve been very open about it — that I’ve done IVF. People told me not to tell anyone that I had a child through IVF. However, I know I’m a celebrity, and it’s important for me to advocate these things. There was a time when people used to say, ‘Isme kuch problem hai isiliye bacha nahi kar paa rahi,’ but I didn’t really pay attention to it.”

“I was supposed to have twins because there were two embryos. However, due to some issues, one of the embryos was not developing. Everything was fine, but the baby wasn’t growing, and I was scared, thinking — what if both the embryos face the same issue? However, I started bleeding badly on one particular day, and that day, the nurse told me that the underdeveloped embryo had been released. It was a good thing, because now the other embryo could fully develop.”

“My first IVF cycle was a failure. We decided to try again when I was 36, and I decided that I want a partner for myself — and that was the time I conceived through IVF. Many people questioned me and Jay, asking if we weren’t able to conceive naturally. However, I never paid attention to it. We paid around 8 lakh rupees for IVF.”

“My friends and immediate family members stopped calling me to their baby showers when I wasn’t getting pregnant, because they thought, ‘Iski nazar lag jaayegi.’ I saw pictures of my relatives’ baby showers, and I wasn’t invited — and that affected me a lot. It hurt me deeply because I’m not like that. When I got pregnant, I shared the good news with everyone.”

“Here, people look at single mothers and divorces very differently. They assume there’s going to be drama, that now it’ll turn into a big issue, that the two will start throwing mud at each other. I feel there’s a lot of pressure from society. Just live and let live.”

“Even if it is the case, why should I tell you? Are you my uncle? Will you pay my lawyer’s fee? Why do people make such a big deal out of somebody’s divorce or separation? I see people writing in my comments section, ‘Mahhi toh decent hai, Jay aisa hai’ (She is decent, but Jay is not). Then somebody else writes, ‘Jay accha hai, Mahhi hi aisi hai’ (Jay is good, but she is not). They just want to blame someone. Do you even know the truth? What do you know?”