Vijay: Actor headed for divorce after 26 year marriage as wife Sangeetha Sornalingam accuses him of affair with actress
An actor has split from his wife of 26 years - and she has acussed him of cheating on her and having an affair with a fellow actress.
Indian actor Vijay, real name Joseph Vijay Chandrasekhar, is to divorce his wife Sangeetha Sornalingam, who he married in August 1999 and shares children with.
Sangeetha has filed a petition for divorce seeking to end their marriage of almost 27 years, according to local media. The couple have two children, Jason Sanjay and Divya Shasha.
The legal proceedings are based on specific provisions of the Special Marriage Act, 1954, which allow a spouse to seek divorce for reasons such as adultery and cruelty.
According to the petition, 48-year-old Sangeetha alleged that Vijay, aged 51, had an affair with a female actor, who has not been named. The petition claimed back in 2021 Sangeetha discovered that Vijay "was involved in an adulterous relationship with an actress."
The petition further states that Vijay asssured his wife that the relationship would end at that time, but it continued and he did not show any remorse. The star also allegedly “continued to travel abroad and attend public events with the said actress. The actress regularly posted photographs of these outings on social media.”
Vijay supposedly “neither denied nor objected to these posts, thereby tacitly endorsing them.” Sangeetha claimed that these they “caused repeated humiliation to her and their children.”
Lastly, Sangeetha stated that Vijay’s "continued adulterous conduct and repeated social media controversies" caused her severe mental torture. She added that their marriage has effectively ceased to exist and now survives only on paper. According to her, the relationship is incapable of revival and offers her nothing but “mental agony, indignity, humiliation and suffering.”
Sangeetha was a devoted fan of Vijay, who is an actor and politician, before the two married on August 25 1999. They welcomed Jason almost one year to the day later, on August 26 2000. He is now 25 years old. Their daughter Divya was born in September 2005 is now aged 20.