Rekha's parents were not married and her father Gemini Ganesan refused to acknowledge her. On her part, Rekha kept her identity secret and revealed her origins and the story of her father's neglect much later in her career. She was famously estranged from her father after she made it big and ignored his attempts at reconciliation. Gemini Ganesan already had four daughters with his first wife, Alamelu. He had a second daughter with Pushpavalli, and another daughter and a son with second wife Savitri. Rekha has one sister, five half-sisters and a half-brother.