Shibani Dandekar became emotional during a recent interaction as she recounted the story of her youngest sister Apeksha Dandekar, who was adopted by their paternal uncle and his wife when she was just 2 months old. Speaking on Rhea Chakraborty’s podcast Chapter 2, Shibani shared how Apeksha’s adoption profoundly shaped her childhood and determined the course of her life.
Shibani explained, “My youngest sister Apeksha, who is my biological sister, was adopted by our dad’s brother and his wife at a very early age. I was 4 years old, my other sister Anusha was 2, and Apeksha must have been 2 months old at the time. While no one ever sat us down to have a conversation about it, we always knew we had a sister who lived in London. It was something that we grew up knowing. And we grew up knowing that our family is missing something. It was something that was incomplete.”
As she opened up further, Shibani broke down, reflecting on how challenging it was to deal with Apeksha’s absence. “It was tough navigating a family environment with the knowledge that someone was not with us. Because we had to carry on with our lives — go to school, live as a family of four — but there wasn’t a day when we didn’t think about her. It never got easier. That experience became a huge moment in my life, shaping so many things for the rest of my life, and probably Anusha’s as well. We had no contact with Apeksha. I didn’t know anything about her, except for the photos where she looked exactly like my mother. That made it even harder because every time we saw her, we thought, ‘She’s one of us,’ but we had to accept that she wasn’t coming back.”
Shibani also reflected on how Apeksha gradually reconnected with the family. “She slowly came back into our lives, and today, she’s a big part of our family. Whatever that family looks like, with the time we’ve had together, it’s there, and it’s something we’re continuing to work on.”
Shibani spent her childhood in Australia before starting her career as a television host on American TV. After returning to India, she hosted several shows and events on Hindi television. Most recently, she appeared in the web series Made In Heaven Season 2.
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