There are some memories that never quite fade, no matter how much time has passed. For Masaba Gupta, one such memory dates back to the very start of her life, an incident she did not fully understand until she was a child, but one that left a lasting mark on her and her mother Neena Gupta.
Speaking at the ‘We The Women’ event, Masaba revisited the story of how her birth became sensationalised the moment she entered the world. When she was born in 1989, someone stole her birth certificate from the hospital and leaked it to the press. The document revealed the name of her father, West Indies cricket legend Vivian Richards, and the news made the front page of a magazine. It was splashed across the country not to celebrate a new life but to fuel gossip and judge her mother for raising a child on her own.
Masaba Gupta admitted that she was still very young, around nine or ten, when she first came across versions of this story. She didn’t entirely grasp what had been done or why. But she sensed it was not something normal children had to question. Over the years, she gradually realised the intention behind the leak — someone wanted the world to label her as “illegitimate”. While sharing this during the conversation, she became emotional, struggling to understand how anyone could be so harsh.
She said that the whole incident felt cruel and deeply unfair, not just to her but especially to Neena Gupta who had to raise her amid public scrutiny and judgment. Masaba wondered aloud what must have kept her mother going through those times. She mentioned that the late journalist Pritish Nandy, who orchestrated the leak had been open about it back then. Though she said she doesn’t hold bitterness toward him today, she still finds herself asking why such a personal moment needed to be turned into a spectacle.
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Neena Gupta had been in a relationship with Vivian Richards during the 1980s and when Masaba was born, she chose to raise her alone after Viv Richards, who was already married, stayed with his family. Years later, Neena found companionship again and married Vivek Mehra in 2008.
Masaba too has built her own life with strength and grace. She married actor Satyadeep Mishra in 2023 and the couple welcomed their daughter Matara in October last year.
Though Masaba has long moved forward, the memory of that early violation remains a reminder of how unkind the world can be and how much resilience it takes to rise above it.
