Rajesh Khanna and Anita Advani first met when she was a teenager, lived together for 12 years: ‘I couldn’t accept another man touching me’

Anita Advani has often spoken about her relationship with superstar Rajesh Khanna, and in a recent conversation, she went back to the very beginning. She said their connection started when she was still a teenager and it left a lasting impression. “I was a teenager when I first met him, and it was a whirlwind romance between us at a very young age. He left such a deep impression on my heart and mind that no one else ever appealed to me,” Anita recalled on REEL Meet REAL. She revealed that fate kept bringing them together, and eventually, when the actor was left isolated from his family, they reconnected. According to her, they went on to live together for nearly 12 years.‘He was one in a million’Speaking about the emotional phase of her life, Anita explained how deeply invested she was in the relationship. She described Rajesh Khanna as “one in a million” and said she couldn’t have asked for a better man. Growing up in a conservative household, she believed he was her everything. Even when others pursued her later, she admitted she was unable to accept another man. “I couldn’t accept another man touching me, it became a mental block,” she said.Secret marriage claimIn another interview with Meri Saheli, Anita revealed that she and Rajesh Khanna had married privately. Addressing the long-standing question of why their marriage was never made public, she explained, “We got married privately, but in the film industry, no one talks about such things openly. Everyone says ‘we’re friends’ or ‘we’re in a relationship’ or something else. But it was already reported in the media that I was with him, so neither of us felt the need to go and publicly announce that we were married. We never felt that need.”She also maintained that she had been in Rajesh Khanna’s life even before Dimple Kapadia, but at the time, she was too young for marriage.Anita further alleged that after Rajesh Khanna’s death in 2012, she was not allowed to attend his funeral. She claimed that his family had bouncers stationed to prevent her from entering and paying her last respects.