- Shahana Goswami was a fan of Milind Soman since she was 16 and found his phone number online
- They texted for six years without speaking on the phone and met only three times before dating
- Shahana was in her 20s and Milind was 43 when they started dating, and age was never a barrier
Shahana Goswami, who likes to live life on her own terms, opened up about her love story with model-actor and fitness icon Milind Soman. Shahana was a "stalker fan" of Milind when she first saw him on the big screen. From stalking to texting to dating, the Santosh actress shared her whirlwind romance and breakup during a recent podcast.
First impression — stalker fan
"When I was 16–17 years old, I was in Delhi and one of Milind's films had released. My school friends and I went to see that film. I also thought, why are we going to watch a model's film? It would have very bad acting, but I was mesmerised by Milind in the film," she told Siddharth Kannan.
Smitten at first sight, Shahana looked for Milind's contact on the internet and ended up getting his cellphone number.
"After the film, I was obsessed with him. See how destiny played out. I was trying to find his address on the internet to send letters, and I came across his landline number. During that time, my father had gifted me a cellphone, which was very uncommon to receive at my age. Milind had left his cellphone number on his answering machine. I texted him and wished him on his birthday, and he immediately replied," Shahana recalled, calling herself a "stalker fan."
After the initial text exchange, the former couple didn't speak on the phone for the next six years.
"We had an interaction over text for six years, never spoke on calls. Basically, I was a stalker fan, but whenever I even used to write letters to him, it was me trying to connect with the person. I never wrote 'I love you' like a crazy fan. I moved to Mumbai for college, and we met only three times. We bumped into each other. Six years later, when we were both single, I messaged him and then we started dating," Shahana shared.
That's how the love story began.
Shahana on age gap with Milind
Milind was 43 and Shahana was in her 20s back then. Reacting to the buzz over their age gap, Shahana said, "I never felt it at the time. I was always way more mature than my age. We were always very open in my family as well. We had friendship more than parenthood, so we used to share everything with our parents and talk about everything. I always felt like an adult from when I was a kid."
Age was never a barrier for Milind Soman, who later married Ankita Konwar, who is 26 years younger than him.
Breakup
Shahana Goswami also shared why they called it quits in 2013. "It's just about timing. Till the very end, we were in love with each other. When you see that a relationship is not able to sync, you have to let it go," she shared.
The Santosh actor added, "I was in a phase of realising that I am not someone who can be in a conventional relationship. I believe in love very deeply but I believe in freedom. I have learnt over time that if you keep people trapped with yourself, that's not love. Let them be. That was also a difference between us. It was a natural realisation that we are no longer compatible. We have a lot of love for each other but we don't want the same things in the relationship."
Shahana Goswami was last seen in the Hindi film Despatch.
