Meet Bollywood’s first India's first Mrs. World, MBBS actress, who got converted to Islam for marriage with..., then saw painful divorce

Many well-educated actresses in Bollywood truly represent beauty with brains. One such name is Aditi Govitrikar, who has made her mark in both the film and television industry. She made history by becoming the first Indian to win the Mrs. World title in 2001.

Along with her stunning looks, she was also highly educated, holding degrees in both medicine and psychology, something rare for an Indian supermodel.

She was a big name in the 90s and is still remembered for the popular music video Kabhi To Nazar Milao. While her career reached great heights, her personal life was filled with difficulties. Even though many admired her, she faced heartbreak in her marriage.

Aditi had always been focused on her studies, but her beauty never went unnoticed. While working as a doctor, she fell in love with her senior, Muffazal Lakdawalla. They became close and were in a relationship for nearly six years.

After finishing medical school in 1997, Aditi and Muffazal decided to get married. However, their families didn’t support the match because they belonged to different religions. Still, the couple went ahead with their decision. In 1998, Aditi and Muffazal got married under civil and Muslim law. Aditi also converted to Islam and took the name Sarah Lakdawalla. They had their first child, a daughter named Kiara, in 1999, and a son, Zhiaan, in 2007.

But things started going downhill after their son was born. Both Aditi and Muffazal had busy careers, and this led to stress, arguments, and growing distance. At one point, Muffazal moved to Australia, and Aditi returned to her family home with the kids.

They officially separated in 2008, and Aditi took full responsibility for raising their children. Throughout the tough time, she stayed quiet, while sources said Muffazal had no interest in fixing the marriage.

For Aditi Govitrikar, her failed marriage was the toughest phase of her life. She did everything she could to save it but wasn’t successful. In a past interview with Siddharth Kannan, she opened up about this and said, "Failure of my marriage is one of the lowest points of my life. I like winning. Since childhood I have wanted to win, I wanted to be first in class, I wanted to win 'Fear Factor', I wanted to win 'Bigg Boss'. In that aspect, to have a partnership fall apart like that was difficult to digest. I thought, ‘Mere saath aise kaise ho gaya."

In the same interview, Aditi also shared how she never got proper closure even after years of separation. She expressed hope that someday she would find peace, saying, "I thought, mere saath aise kaise ho gaya. I wish someday we sit across the table and sort out because sometimes you need closure after a fight. There are many unsaid things, so maybe someday we will…A closure will be good for both. It's been 13 years, but you can't forget your past."

After her separation from Muffazal Lakdawalla, Aditi decided to move forward and focus on her career in the entertainment industry. Meanwhile, Muffazal got remarried in 2011. Since then, Aditi has been raising their two children on her own. In an interview with Siddharth Kannan, she opened up about the challenges of being a single parent, sharing how difficult it is to take care of everything alone while trying to be both a mother and a father to her kids.

She added, "My parents used to make decisions for us together. It may be as small as deciding whether kids should go on a trip, I had to decide everything alone and play both father and mother. There was also the feeling of guilt for leaving my children with my mother or sister for work."

After winning the Gladrags contest, Aditi Govitrikar got many modelling offers. She stepped into acting in 1999 with the Telugu film Thammudu. Later, she was seen in films like Paheli, Baaz: A Bird in Danger, De Dana Dan, and Bheja Fry 2. Apart from movies, Aditi also joined reality shows like Bigg Boss and Khatron Ke Khiladi. In recent years, she was noticed for her role in the OTT series Mismatched.