Pawan Kalyan and Anna Konidala have separated after more than 13 years of marriage, announcing the split on Monday, November 9 in a brief joint statement that described the decision as mutual. They said it was reached with understanding and respect for each other, and that they would continue as friends.
The timing matters because the announcement lands on a day when one of Andhra Pradesh’s best-known political figures is already under public scrutiny, and because the couple said their two children will remain at the center of every decision that follows. They said the children’s well-being and happiness would stay their shared priority, and asked for privacy as the family adjusts.
The statement left out the details that readers will now be watching for. It gave no reason for the split, did not say whether divorce proceedings had begun, and offered no word on how custody would be arranged. That silence stands out because talk of trouble in the marriage had already been circulating since July 2023, when the Jana Sena Party denied the rumors and shared a picture of the couple at a puja in their Hyderabad home after the first leg of his Varahi Yatra.
Anna had also recently signaled a change in how she wanted to be identified. In July, she asked on Instagram to be addressed as Anna Konidala rather than Anna Lezhneva, saying she had taken her husband’s surname at the time of their 2013 marriage. The couple first met in 2011 during the shooting of Teen Maar and married on September 30, 2013. Over the years, Anna largely stayed out of public view, though she joined him in celebrating the alliance’s 2024 Assembly poll win and he travelled to Singapore for her convocation at the National University of Singapore.
For now, the only confirmed next step is the one they set out themselves: to remain friends and raise their two children together. What happens legally, and whether the separation turns into a formal divorce, is the question they have left unanswered.
