Piyush Mishra recently opened up about a deeply personal chapter of his life. In his memoir Tumhari Auqaat Kya Hai Piyush Mishra, the actor recalled the time he confessed his extramarital affairs to his wife Priya Narayanan. He spoke at length about his role as a husband and how his understanding of relationships has changed over time.
In a conversation with Shubhankar Mishra, Piyush admitted to not being a good husband in the early years of their marriage. He said, “Now I am a good husband; I wasn’t earlier. Back then, I wasn’t responsible at all, and marriage is a very big responsibility. When you fall in love at 20, there’s no logic to it, that’s the beauty of it. But after 35, you love the person who is willing to grow old with you. Love is defined by the woman who is ready to grow old with you, and she accepted that she would grow old with me.”
The actor further shared how it took him 10-15 years to truly acknowledge Priya as his wife. “I accepted very late that I had become a husband, it took me a long time. Nearly 10–15 years to realise that she is my wife. Before that, she was just a woman who had my children, cooked for me, and took care of the house. I had no feelings beyond that. I was a very dry person, not just with Priya, but with everything. I didn’t feel anything,” he continued.
Recalling the time he came out clean about his extra-marital relationships with his wife, Piyush Mishra said, “When I realised my mistakes, I sat her down one day and told her everything I had done. We were both crying, and we embraced each other. After that, we felt lighter. She said, ‘You made mistakes, I did too, you made more, I made fewer. Let’s end these matters here.’ Our understanding became very strong.”
The actor explained why his wife chose to stay with him despite his infidelity. He said, “She loved me. She had run away from home for me and married me against her parents’ wishes. She had sacrificed so much. She said, ‘I will not divorce you no matter what, you can do anything, but I won’t leave you.’”
Piyush added, “It was her greatness that she stayed with me. Today I understand it, there’s no other word for it. It was her greatness that she held the marriage together. I am fortunate.”
Piyush Mishra and Priya Narayanan got married in 1995, in a simple ceremony at the Arya Samaj Mandir in Delhi. The couple are now parents to two sons, Josh and Jai.