# Aruna Irani defends herself after filmmaker Kuku Kohli dies at 77 2026-08-27T04:06:29+00:00 | Entertainment | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets (4 source reports) Veteran actress Aruna Irani's old statements from 2020 have resurfaced after filmmaker Kuku Kohli, her husband of 36 years, died of a heart attack on August 25 at age 77. In interviews, Irani said she did not know Kohli was married when they met and rejected the 'homebreaker' label, arguing the husband bears responsibility too. Irani said she chose not to have children with Kohli because he was a married man with his own family, and she did not have the courage to raise a child in that situation. She cited actress Neena Gupta as someone who did have that courage. Kohli's first wife Rita Kohli had died. Kohli is survived by Irani and his two daughters from his first marriage. ## Indian Opinion Analysis The coverage of Aruna Irani's resurfaced statements is uniform wire-service style reporting across all three sources. Times of India leads with her rejection of the 'homebreaker' label, while both NDTV articles foreground her explanation for not having children and her comparison with Neena Gupta. None of the sources question or editorialise, they reprint her own words without independent verification of her account of Kuku Kohli's first marriage. The story's prominence rests on a celebrity death, not on new investigative reporting. Readers will judge the claims based on their own view of personal accountability in such relationships, a debate the sources simply relay. ## Coverage Coverage: 4 sources, 4 neutral - timesofindia.indiatimes.com (neutral report) Leads with her rejection of the homebreaker tag, prints her words without challenge - ndtv.com (neutral report) Leads with her surprise at not knowing he was married, neutral recounting of events - ndtv.com (2) (neutral report) Leads with her lack of courage compared to Neena Gupta, neutral retelling - ndtv.com (3) (neutral report) Short snippet repeating the same Neena Gupta quote, neutral This brief was synthesised by AI from the 4 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Updated: this story now draws on 4 sources. Last updated 2026-08-27T09:01:47+00:00. Tags: Aruna Irani, Kuku Kohli, Phool Aur Kaante, Rita Kohli Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/aruna-irani-defends-homebreaker-tag-after-husband-kuku-kohlis-death/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/aruna-irani-defends-homebreaker-tag-after-husband-kuku-kohlis-death/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/