Arjun Rampal, who was enjoying the success of the Dhurandhar series, spoke about one of the most difficult periods of his life, revealing how the breakdown of his marriage with Meher Jesia, loss of loved ones, and personal struggles pushed him towards deep contemplation and healing.Speaking with Sohini on Canceled to Crown, Arjun spoke about what he described as the ‘darkest phase’ of his life and explained how losing almost everything forced him to reconnect with himself.
“My marriage wasn’t working out”
When Arjun was asked about the loneliest period in his life, he explained that the loneliness was not due to physical loneliness but due to separation from himself.“I think the loneliest I’ve ever felt was when I wasn’t as connected to myself as I am today,” he said.Talking about the personal turmoil he was facing at the time, the actor said, “My marriage was not working which is sad because I believe that love is not constant. Everything in life is not constant. We are not constant, we are constantly changing and sometimes in that change one does not grow or change well together.”Arjun admitted that the period was particularly difficult because it coincided with many personal losses.
“I think that was probably the darkest point in my life because at that point in time was exactly when my mom got cancer and I was losing her. I was losing everyone who was close to me. I had lost my father three years before that. I was losing friends. I was losing everything I had worked so hard to get,” he said.
“When you lose everything, there is only one thing left, which is pure meditation.”
The actor said the experience forced him to look inward rather than look for answers elsewhere.“When you lose everything, there is only one thing left and that is pure contemplation.
He explained: “You can’t do anything, you have to go back inside yourself and understand what you have become, why this happened, and what your mistakes are.”Arjun stressed the importance of taking responsibility instead of blaming others during difficult times.“You can’t shift blame. If you shift blame, you’ll become more miserable because you’re using it as a crutch to not introspect honestly. You’re making yourself a victim.”
“But you can’t do that,” he said.According to him, real growth comes from admitting our mistakes.“You have to be strong enough to pick it up and say, yes, these are the parts where I was flawed, these are the parts where I was negligent, these are the parts where I was insensitive, these are the parts where I messed up and now I’m going to fix them.”
Gabriella became a “strong anchor” for him
Arjun also credited his partner Gabriella Demetriades for helping him get through the difficult phase.“I was very lucky to have someone like Gabriella in my life who I think was a very strong anchor and was also coming from a space that probably had a lot of darkness as well.”He added that they both faced challenges together and came out stronger.“So we were in the storm and we had to, like I said, weather it. But it was okay, we had to weather it together and then the blessings came.”
“When the sun came up again, I got to see you.”
The actor became emotional as he recalled how life gradually changed after that difficult period.“When the sun rose again, even though my mother was dead, I had Aric. It was a great joy, and it was a blessing,” he said.Arjun concluded his speech by saying that the experience led to a complete transformation in his outlook on life.“We’ve done a complete 180 with us in our lives, in certain ways and creating habits.”
