When Shah Rukh Khan joked he was ‘forced into’ marriage with Gauri Khan, called Maneka Gandhi for help

Shah Rukh Khan joked on Simi Garewal’s show in 1997 that Gauri Khan’s large family forced him into marrying her.

Shah Rukh Khan has a mischievous sense of humour and does not spare his wife of nearly three decades, Gauri Khan, from his jokes either. During a joint appearance on Rendezvous With Simi Garewal in 1997, he joked that she made his life “miserable” by relentlessly pursuing him and he was “forced into” marrying her.

When host Simi Garewal asked how their love story began, Gauri said that they met for the first time at a party and soon became friends. Shah Rukh jokingly interrupted, “She had the hots for me. She was running after me. She kept calling me up and really made my life miserable. Then, I had to finally give in.”

Simi laughed and asked Shah Rukh how he gave in, to which he quipped, “She has a really large family. Like, 15 people. They pinned me down and said, ‘Marry her.’ I said, ‘Okay, I’ll marry her. Please don’t beat me up.’ They have a big family and I was all alone, so I had to give in and marry her.”

“I was forced into this marriage. It’s like child abuse. I am going to report this to the social activists,” he added, sending Gauri and Simi into splits. With a cheeky grin on his face, he insisted, “No, really. I even called up Maneka Gandhi (then Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment). I have been calling everybody, but nobody is helping me.”

Shah Rukh then joked that he was no longer alone and now that there was another Khan in the picture (his son Aryan was born just two weeks before the episode was shot), they would get their “revenge” from Gauri.

Shah Rukh and Gauri got married on October 25, 1991, in a traditional Hindu ceremony. He borrowed a suit from the sets of Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman for the wedding. The couple has three children - Aryan, Suhana and AbRam.