Neetu Singh on Rishi Kapoor’s cancer diagnosis: ‘I was devastated, my kids were devastated. But then, I think I became his mother’

Actor Rishi Kapoor, who has been in New York for almost a year now, has once again said that he may return to India early September. In a long interview, wife Neetu Singh has now opened up on the lows during the eleven months that the actor couple has been fighting Rishi’s cancer.

Speaking with Times Now in an interview, Neetu said, “My first reaction was, obviously very bad, I was devastated, my kids were devastated. We didn’t know what to do. But then we thought to ourselves that this is it, we have to deal with it. Where he (Rishi) is concerned, he was in denial. For 4-5 months, he was not himself. I think when you start accepting that this is your issue, then you are stronger. I feel he is much stronger for the past, maybe 5-6 months.”

Also read: Rishi Kapoor says Neetu Kapoor has been his rock during cancer treatment: ‘I have learnt to remain calm with my family, fans’

Rishi then chipped in and said, “The thing is, people think and we dramatise in films, that cancer is a dreaded disease. Yes, it is. But today, it is all treatable, if diagnosed at an early stage, it can be dealt with. Cancer is curable and also, you have to have family support. Filmon me humne background music daal, dool ke itna kharab kiya hai naam cancer ka (We have given a bad name to cancer with all the background music that we used in films)! Today it its treatable, people are dealing with all kinds of cancer …just have to be positive.”

While Rishi has talked about the importance of his family’s support during this time, Neetu also opened up on how she dealt with the news. “Mujhe laga, I became his mother. Like, like he was my third child…khana, sona, dawaiyaan…jaise bacche ko look after karte hain. I just became a mother. A mother wants to do the best,” Neetu said, almost choking.

There were times when Rishi did not want to eat anything at all for nine days at a go. “My worry was when he didn’t eat. Around January, I think in every treatment there are days when you don’t want to eat…Then I thought what do I make to get him to eat? I used to play tricks around him, talk to the nurse about some restaurant and some good dish they have and then he would chip in saying ‘really?, ok let us try that,” Neetu added. Rishi further said that he was on saline and had no appetite or taste.

Neetu also shared an incident from one of her hospital visits. “I used to post the pictures on his Instagram just to keep the positivity going. I never put pictures where he was down and out. Once, I was waiting for the elevator in the hospital when he (Rishi) was admitted and a young boy came and told me ‘my father is going through the same thing and he was very depressed, we kept showing him your pictures and said see Rishi ji is so happy and he is getting treated and those pictures made him come here and he wants to go through the treatment. I feel so nice that I helped somebody gain confidence that it can be dealt with.”

Rishi has once again said that he may return to India early September. He also revealed few more details about his disease.

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“When we say bad days, we don’t mean I had some invasive surgery or bad pain. Nothing of the sort. It was just …people have issues with their kidney, they have problems with liver or heart, I had a marrow problem and I had to get it rectified. So there is nothing such as a serious issue. Just that between two treatments, there was a long gap and during that time, as she (Neetu) said, we just went out and around town. You are doing nothing, you cannot fly or travel long distance. I have gone through a treatment and thankfully it is successful. Thank you for the great and lovely blessings and duas of all my friends and family and fans..I really thank all of them that we had the courage to sail through.”

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