Sonam Kapoor Ahuja: “Priorities do change and I think that the child will become mine”

In the final stretch of her surprisingly low-key pregnancy, actor Sonam Kapoor Ahuja—who welcomed a baby boy on August 20—got together with journalist and newly-minted mother Faye D’Souza to trace the last nine months of her life and reflect on the future

On her baby being a pandemic baby or a planned one, Kapoor said, “We wanted to wait two years after we got married to start trying. Then, the pandemic happened. We were in Delhi at Anand’s [Ahuja] parents’ home at the beginning of the pandemic and we just decided that the timing was right because we didn’t understand the severity of Covid. We went into lockdown soon after and things just kept getting graver, so we decided to wait. I remember doing the interview for Vogue India’s June 2021 issue in April and when my birthday came around in June, I told Anand, “This is it, I don’t think we can wait anymore.” We’d already done all my check-ups with multiple doctors in Mumbai and London and everything looked fine, so we decided to go for it.”

Regarding her career and baby, Sonam said, “I did have two things that I was supposed to do this year, but I will start them next year. I’m giving myself a six-month break after my pregnancy to resume work, even though it seems like I haven’t worked in longer because I haven’t had a release in two years. I remember having this internal conflict about whether or not I should take time off but then I realised I have been working since I was 20, so it will be well earned.”

On raising her child in the public eye, “To be honest, I haven’t decided whether I’m going to school our child here or in London, but I definitely know I feel more at home in India. I’m a proper Bombay girl. There will be the issue of privacy if I raise my child here, but I see many star kids leading completely regular lives so we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

On Anand Ahuja taking paternity leave and raising their child as a team: “I think more than Anand, it comes from watching the way Dad and Mum brought us up. I remember my mother sending me to the set of Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja (1993) so that my father could look after me because she was handling my brother and sister who were very young at the time. Despite having ample help, their motto was equal parenting. Even after we grew up, Dad was very involved in all of our lives; in fact, after a certain age, he was more invested in our lives than Mum was. My parents are partners in every sense of the word, so I have a solid blueprint on how to bring up my children with the right values.”

Sonam Kapoor got candid regarding her career post-baby and shared, “I always was a little picky. I’m not really in the rat race, I’m just doing my own thing. I don’t think that will change, but priorities do change and I think that the child will become mine. The truth of the matter is that they didn’t choose to come into this world. You decided to bring them here, so it’s a very selfish decision. I will try to do the best I can as a mother, which means that acting will definitely take a backseat, but I don’t think I will ever stop working completely.”

To read the full cover story, visit, vogue.in