Raqesh Bapat says there was ‘lot of guilt’ during divorce from Ridhi Dogra: ‘We both wanted to work on the marriage’

While Raqesh Bapat was on Bigg Boss OTT, his ex-wife Ridhi Dogra championed him from the outside, defending him against comments such as ‘spineless’ and ‘henpecked husband’. The two parted ways in 2019, after more than seven years of marriage, and share a cordial relationship with each other.

In an interview with Hindustan Times, Raqesh opened up about how the divorce from Ridhi took a toll on him but how they are both in a ‘good space’ now. “Any relationship ending has never been easy and I am an emotional person. I never thought I would end up in a situation like divorce because I always, and she also, wanted to work on the marriage for sure. But unfortunately, there are things that you cannot control and sometimes, you go through that whole aspect of ‘shayad achcha ho sakta tha (maybe it could have been fixed)’, so there is a lot of guilt, a lot of ‘maybe I went wrong, she went wrong’, she also probably felt the same,” he said.

“There are a lot of thoughts that you go through at that particular point and it’s important that you go through those thoughts because that makes us human. It took a toll on me because I was used to being in the marriage for seven years, so to accept the difference in life is definitely going to be a task. But now, I am good. We both went through that and we are in a good space now,” he added.

Also see | Shamita Shetty’s mother supports Raqesh Bapat as he hits back at ‘henpecked husband’ comment: ‘You are for real’

Raqesh said that he sought help to deal with the divorce and talking to someone made it a lot easier for him. “I took help also, which was needed, because our mind is a meaning-making machine, it is always thinking. There is uncertainty about a lot of things, so we need to solve that and move on. I have accepted gracefully that taking help is not a big deal. You need to talk to people if there is a problem. I did that and it sorted me out for sure. I also did visual art therapy which helped me a lot, I have become a therapist myself now, so it is something good. Now, it’s all done and dusted, it’s all in a good space,” he said.

On Bigg Boss OTT, Raqesh found a special someone in Shamita Shetty. They grew close on the show and are now taking it slow. “Before giving it any kind of name, this bond, we would like to know each other better,” he said, adding that they ‘don’t want to rush into anything’.