Kamal Haasan and Gautami part ways after living together for 13 years

Chennai, Nov 2: Gautami has ended her 13-year-old relationship with fellow actor Kamal Haasan. She announced the separation with an emotional blog post on Tuesday.

“It is heartbreaking for me to have to say today that I and Mr Haasan are no longer together. It has been one of the most devastating decisions that I have ever had to make in my life,” she wrote on her blog on Tuesday. Change is inevitable, her post says, observing philosophically that “human nature will define that change for each individual.”

The post also underlines her priorities. “...I am a mother first and foremost and I have a responsibility to my child to be the best mother that I can be. And to do that, it is essential that I am at peace within myself,” she says.

Gautami has a daughter from her earlier marriage with businessman Sandeep Bhatia, whom she married in 1998 and divorced a year later.

The break-up has been graceful, with Gautami reiterating her admiration for Kamal, who turns 62 on November 7.

Gautami co-starred with him in Apoorva Sagodharargal and Nammavar. "It is no secret that I have always been a fan of Mr Haasan’s since before I came to the film industry and I continue to admire and cheer on his monumental talent and achievements,” she says. A cancer survivor, she said it was not her intention to seek sympathy or assign blame:?“This decision to set forth on my own at this stage in my life is perhaps one of the most difficult decisions any woman will ever have to make but it is a necessary one for me.”

Gautami and Shruti Haasan, Kamal Haasan’s daughter from his earlier marriage with actress Sarika, recently had a run-in on the sets of a film, Tamil industry sources said.