Naga Chaitanya says he and Samantha Ruth Prabhu got officially divorced a year ago: “She is a lovely person and deserves all happiness”

The Custody actor has revealed that the court granted them divorce last year and both of them have moved on their respective lives.

It came as a shock to the fans of Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Naga Chaitanya when the couple announced their separation in 2021. Now, the Custody actor has revealed that the court granted them divorce last year and both of them have moved on their respective lives.

In a conversation with Times Of India, Naga Chaitanya said, “Yes. It’s been more than two years since we separated and a year since we were formally divorced. The court has granted us a divorce. Both of us have moved on with our lives. I have tremendous respect for that phase of my life. She is a lovely person and deserves all happiness.”

Samantha and Chaitanya were dating for a few years before tying the knot in 2017. However, rumours of their separation began when Prabhu removed Akkineni surname from all her social media accounts. Following the speculations, the former pair released a joint statement which read, “To all our well-wishers. After much deliberation and thought Sam and I have decided to part ways as husband and wife to pursue our own paths. We are fortunate to have a friendship of over a decade that was the very core of our relationship which we believe will always hold a special bond between us.”

Speaking to Karan Johar on Koffee With Karan 7 last year, Samantha said, “It has been hard. But it’s good now. It’s fine. I am stronger than I have ever been.” When Karan asked her if there are any hard feelings, the actress said, “Are there hard feelings like if you put us both in a room, you have to hide sharp objects? Yeah, as of now, yes.”

“So it’s not an amicable situation right now,” Karan asked her. “Not right now, but maybe sometime in the future, yeah,” she replied.

On the professional front, Naga Chaitanya made his Telugu debut in 2009 with Josh and later gained fame with Gautham Menon’s romantic drama Ye Maaya Chesave (2010), co-starring Samantha Ruth Prabhu. The actor made his Hindi debut in 2022 with Laal Singh Chaddha alongside Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan and now, he is prepping for his Tamil debut with Custody which is a Tamil-Telugu bilingual, co-starring Krithi Shetty and Arvind Swamy in pivotal roles. Directed by Venkat Prabhu, the film will release on May 12. Besides that, the actor is also expected to be doing Dootha, a horror web series, which is also said to feature Prachi Desai and Parvathy Thiruvothu.