Abuse allegations, Babita's influence, and Bollywood: How Sunjay Kapoor, Karisma Kapoor's 'fairytale' marriage ended

Sunjay Kapur and Karisma Kapoor were married for 13 years, with their marriage ending in a bitter divorce that saw allegations of abuse and more.

In the early 2000s, Karisma Kapoor was one of Bollywood's top female stars. When her engagement with actor Abhishek Bachchan was announced, it made news for weeks. The two 'royal families' of Bollywood were coming together, it seemed. But it was not to be. Within months, their engagement was broken, and just months later, Karisma was betrothed to industrialist Sunjay Kapur.

Karisma Kapoor and Sunjay Kapur with Randhir Kapoor at their wedding.

Many in Bollywood asked who Sunjay was at the time. The Delhi-based industrialist was a divorcee and known to be the life of the Delhi party circuit. But none of that mattered to Karisma's mother, former actor Babita. A source told Hindustan Times in the mid-2000s that she always wanted an 'industrialist husband' for Karisma. "Sunjay was a good catch and nothing else mattered except his industrialist tag," the source added, "Sunjay himself was perhaps a little star-struck."

The fairytale wedding

It was a fairytale wedding at the RK Studios in Chembur, Mumbai, on September 29, 2003. Although a large section of Bollywood avoided the wedding due to their loyalties to the Bachchans, Karisma soon wrapped up her pending films and moved to Delhi.

She continued to travel to Mumbai to film her show Karishma: A Miracle of Destiny, but reports said that Sunjay did not like that. Karisma ended the show and bid her acting career goodbye, at least for a while.

The first cracks appear

But the Delhi-Mumbai divide hit her hard. A source told HT in 2006 that Karisma felt uneasy at Delhi's parties and did not fit with the socialite crowd. "She was unable to match wits with the Delhi society crowd," said the source. Apparently, "she once thought a Labrador was a new car."

In March 2005, Karisma moved back to Mumbai for the birth of her daughter, Samaira, and stayed back. Sunjay went to her with divorce papers, but she refused to sign. After much negotiation, the two reconciled. Son, Kiaan, was born in 2011.

The messy divorce

But the marriage unravelled again. As per reports, Sunjay's family blamed Babita's 'influence and interference' in Karisma's life. When she filed for divorce, Karisma alleged domestic abuse and attributed it to Sunjay's alleged substance abuse. A messy divorce followed, which saw the marriage eventually break down in 2016, almost a decade after the cracks first appeared.

Sunjay eventually married Priya Sachdev in 2017, and they had a son. Karisma and Sunjay's children—Samaira and Kiaan—remained close to their father even after he remarried. But Karisma largely stayed away from family gatherings and vacations. The delicate balance broke after Sunjay's death.

Sunjay's death and the legal battle

The businessman died in June 2025 in London, and soon, Kiaan and Samaira accused Priya of forging his will and excluding them from the estate. The reported ₹30000 crore worth of the estate meant that a fight was on. The case is in the Delhi High Court now.