Why Shilpa Shetty’s career crashed after Big Brother: 18 years on from the Jade Goody racism row, star has ‘lost her house in a Bitcoin scam’, stood by her husband who was jailed for porn… and now her own mother is on trial

Scroll through Shilpa Shetty’s Instagram feed and you’d be forgiven for thinking she’s your run-of-the-mill B-list Bollywood actress who – bolstered by social media – has found new success in an influencer niche.

The actress – who recently celebrated her 50th birthday at a bash that made headlines for all the wrong reasons – posts a mix of glam shots, sweat-free workout snaps, outtakes from her international holidays, and her ‘Sunday Binge’ Reels that might trigger those with slower Basal Metabolic Rates.

However, the glossy veneer of her public persona conceals a more turbulent personal life – including the ups and downs in her marriage to British-born millionaire Raj Kundra, who was arrested and jailed for 63 days in 2021 on charges of making and distributing porn.

Just this week, the Dhadkan actress found herself facing harsh criticism for being an ‘entitled’ Bollywood star after video footage from her birthday party at a glitzy restaurant in Hvar Islands, Croatia, was posted online.

In the now-viral clip, Shilpa can be heard screaming ‘Don’t talk to us, we don’t want to talk to you’ at a fellow guest, who reportedly complained her group was being too loud and ‘politely requested them to speak softly’.

It’s a far cry from her restrained and dignified stance in the face of vile racist abuse at the hands of Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd, and Jo O’Meara that made Shilpa a fan-favourite during her time on Celebrity Big Brother – and ultimately saw her walk away as the series winner after the finale was aired in February 2007.

Controversy followed Shilpa back home to Mumbai as she found herself accused of ‘obscenity’ when Pretty Woman star Richard Gere kissed her on the cheek repeatedly at an AIDS awareness event the following month.  

Photos from the event in New Delhi show how the American actor took the star’s hand and kissed it, before embracing her and kissing her multiple times on the cheek.

He later said the spontaneous act had been designed to show that kissing was not dangerous and could not spread the virus.

But the incident sparked protests among India’s religious conservatives, who branded it an outrage and took to the streets in protest.

Some of the protests morphed into riots, with effigies of both actors burned in the streets with criminal charges filed against the pair, whose actions were branded an affront to traditional Indian values. 

While the charges against Mr Gere were quickly dropped, after he apologised, those against Ms Shetty languished in the Indian criminal justice system for nearly 14 years until she was cleared of ‘obscenity’ for not resisting the kiss in 2022. 

The widespread public protests weren’t the only personal setback Shilpa suffered the same year she won Celebrity Big Brother. 

In 2007, Shilpa’s parents were awaiting trial on extortion charges after it was claimed they hired a mafia don to intimidate a Surat-based businessman into clearing her dues for a commercial she starred in. 

‘Are you nuts?’ she retorted during an interview with the Evening Standard, when asked about the allegations against Sunanda and Surendra –  who died in 2016  – Shetty.  

Referring to the owner of the sari company, she said: ‘Yes, that crook owes me around £80,000 and we sent him two legal demands to pay up. 

‘And yes, there will be a court case [against my parents]. But the allegations are all lies. Extortion! It’s not our style.’ 

The Surat-based businessman went to the police after he began receiving threatening calls in 2003, when the Shettys were placed under surveillance and the authorities secretly taped their phone calls. 

Transcripts of conversations between the owner of the garment firm, Shetty’s parents, and the criminals they allegedly hired were made public – and obtained by the Daily Mail – as Sunanda was recorded saying ‘Give us the money, the [threatening] telephone calls will stop’. 

Formal charges were filed against Sunanda and Surendra in 2010 and the criminal trial drags on to this date. After Surendra’s death in 2016, new charges were framed against Sunanda, her former secretary Dilip Palsekar, and the underworld don Fazl-ur-Rehman alias Fazlu in 2019. 

The hits would keep coming, as Shilpa also found herself at the centre of an extra-marital scandal after Big Brother when the wife of prominent Indian director Anubhav Sinha suggested the actress had seduced him 

In a 2007 interview with a local newspaper, Ratnaa Sinha broke her silence about the alleged affair between Anubhav Sinha and Shilpa on the set of his thriller Dus in Canada in 2005. 

After he returned to India, Anubhav is said to have walked out of his marriage of 12 years. 

The headline of Ratnaa’s exclusive interview with DNA read: ‘Ratna Sinha erupts against her director husband Anubhav and his ‘good friend’ Shilpa Shetty.

Without explicitly naming Shilpa, she said: ‘Anubhav and I had the perfect marriage, until a year and a half ago. 

‘We had no problems whatsoever, but he suddenly left one day.

‘I do not want to comment on their affair, but I am told they are good friends. They are both old and wise enough to make their own decisions. Anubhav knows the repercussions he will face for the choices he is making.’ 

At the time, she said the marriage break-up and the intense media interest in the story had a terrible effect on their young son, Shlok.

‘He wakes up at 3am and cries out. He cannot go to school because people ask him where his father is.’

Shilpa denied any claims she and Anubhav had an affair, while maintaining they were ‘just close friends’ in an interview with the Evening Standard. 

‘It’s all been extremely embarrassing. I’m keeping my silence because he’s going through a bad marriage. People think my life is so glamorous. 

‘I am reported to be going out with different men, but the truth is I’ve had two dates in eight months. I’m always working. It’s pretty boring being Shilpa Shetty!’ 

This wouldn’t be the last time Shilpa would find herself accused of being a homewrecker as the now-ex-wife of Raj Kundra – Shilpa’s husband – said the Dhadkan actress was ‘living my life’ and blamed her for breaking up her marriage. 

But when she learned Raj was married, Shilpa admitted she left the meeting ‘disheartened’. 

‘Four months later, Raj [offered to let me stay at his] batch pad, since I was traveling to London frequently,’ Shilpa told Indian media outlet Pinkvilla. ‘I was surprised to know about his bachelor pad, and later he revealed that he is going through a divorce.’ 

His now-ex-wife, however, went on record at the time and claimed she and Raj were working through a rough patch – before Kavitaa sensationally accused Shilpa of stealing the diamond merchant from her. 

In a bombshell interview with the Mail on Sunday, Kavita – the daughter of British businesman Bal Krishan – claimed Raj, then 31, began ‘pestering me for a divorce’ after becoming infatuated with Shilpa as she tried to put their three-year marriage back together. 

‘She can have any man she wants and there are plenty of single men about.

“While I was trying to put our marriage back together, he was talking constantly about Shilpa, as if it didn’t matter what happened to us because he had found someone better, cleverer and more famous than me.

‘Now he has begun pestering me for a divorce.’

While both Raj and Shilpa denied Kavitaa’s claims, the former revealed details of Kavitaa’s alleged infidelity in 2021 – after he was released from Mumbai’s infamous Arthur Road jail while awaiting trial in the pornography case. 

He claimed Kavitaa began a secret relationship with her sister’s now-ex-husband, while accusing her of separating him from their then-40-day-old daughter, in an interview with Pinkvilla. 

‘Many of my family and even my driver would say, “We sense something fishy between these two,” and I would never believe it. I gave my ex wife the benefit of doubt,’ he said. 

When his sister and her ex moved back to India from the UK, Raj discovered Kavitaa was using a secret phone to communicate with his former brother-in-law while his sister was pregnant.  

‘I recall how heartbroken I was and how I cried and cried thinking about what I had done to deserve this,’ he said, before branding the relationship a ‘marriage from hell’. 

Raj said he and Shilpa agreed not to respond to media reports of their alleged affair in order to protect his sister’s privacy, adding: ‘It was very hard on Shilpa and I know how upset she was but she also understood the predicament I was in. 

‘She really supported me during this emotional time of my life.

She has and always does bring out the best in me. I am grateful to God for such an amazing wife. 

‘Some good Karma I must have done that I went from [a] marriage from Hell to finding my real soul mate,’ he gushed. 

There have been many trying moments in Shilpa and Raj’s 14-year marriage, as the actress broke down during a police raid at their Mumbai in connection with a ‘porn racket’. 

Shilpa reportedly accused her husband of destroying her reputation during a ‘showdown’ that only ended with police intervened, the Hindustan Times reported. 

‘We have everything, what was the need to do all this,’ she told her husband as he arrived at their home, NDTV reported, as officials investigated allegations that Raj lured women into making explicit content under the guise of booking them for an acting gig. 

Once the woman agreed to the ‘acting job’ producers would change the script and force them to perform sex acts, police told the Times.

If they refused, they were told they had to pay for the shoot, often held in a rented house on the outskirts of Mumbai.

The clips were then sent via WeTransfer to the UK, where they were released on paid mobile apps like HotShots – developed by a firm founded by Kundra. The company was later sold to Kenrin Limited, a UK-based firm owned by Kundra’s brother-in-law Pradeep Bakshi.

Raj was arrested on 2021 in Mumbai by police who said they have ‘sufficient evidence’ that he is a ‘key conspirator’ in the porn production ring. He has denied the allegations.

Publishing or transmitting ‘obscene’ material including porn is illegal in India under a 2015 law and punishable by up to seven years in jail. The case is ongoing. 

In December 2024, Raj strongly denied any involvement in the porn racket while suggesting a business rivalry was at the heart of what he believes is an attempt to defame him. 

Recalling his time in police custody in July 2021 – an experience he has turned into a biopic and cast himself in the lead role – he said: ‘Someone came to me in the middle of the night and said, “Why did you get into a fight with him?”  

‘That’s when I realised who had plotted this against me.’

His interview came less than one month after his properties were raided by India’s Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering case linked to the alleged ‘porn racket’, the Hindu reported. 

Raj criticised the media in an Instagram statement about the raids – including at his home in Mumbai’s Juhu neighbourhood – as he said it was ‘unacceptable to repeatedly drag my wife’s name in unrelated matters’.

The agency is also investigating a money laundering case against Raj over a Bitcoin scheme, as Shilpa once again finds herself caught up in a media storm over her husband’s alleged dealings. 

In October 2024, Shilpa and Raj were served an eviction notice ordering them to vacate two of their India homes – including their primary residence in Juhu –  in connection with an alleged Bitcoin fraud case against Amit Bhardwaj, who masterminded and promoted the 2017 Gain Bitcoin Ponzi scam.

Under the scheme, investors were falsely promised a 10% a month return, but in the form of bitcoin.

An investigation into the scam revealed that Kundra received 285 Bitcoins from the mastermind to set up a Bitcoin mining farm in Ukraine back in April.

As reported by NDTV, because the deal did not materialise, Kundra is still in possession of 285 Bitcoins which are currently valued at around £13.5 million.

Shilpa and Raj were granted interim relief regarding the eviction notices when a bench of High Court judges ruled to extend protection while the couple contest the notices before the Prevention of Money Laundering Act appellate authority. 

Life on Instagram continues as usual until then, as Shilpa’s social media accounts betray no signs of trouble in her paradise. 

The yoga and wellness influencer took to the social media platform on Wednesday to show off her chiselled body as she posed on the deck of a yacht during a birthday trip to Croatia planned by her husband. 

 In another post, she stands before a sky full of fireworks – once again organised by Raj – as Shilpa marked another year around the sun in a glittering gold ensemble. 

‘And it was a blast,’ she punned. ‘Surrounded by unconditional love. Raj Kundra, you are a star. 

‘Only gratitude in my heart for you, for the surprises and for all the memories,’ she captioned her post, featuring several members of the Shetty-Kundra clan who have all gathered in Croatia for the festivities. 

Back home in India, however, their legal troubles – and Shilpa’s entanglement in it all – looms over her relationships.