When Milind Soman made headlines

At 52, he is still the heartthrob of millions of women in India. India’s former supermodel and fitness promoter Milind Soman has been making headlines for his alleged love affair with 26-year-old air-hostess Anikita Konwar.
Despite being trolled on the social media for dating someone half of his age, Milind not only celebrated his birthday with her in Norway but reports have also been rife that they will be tying the knot in 2018.
According to reports, Milind had visited Ankita's hometown Guwahati last month and met her parents. He also attended her nephew's birthday bash as well and it was on this occasion that he was formally introduced to the rest of the Konwar family members. Although the age gap between the two was an issue for Ankita’s family, they were reportedly willing to ignore it after meeting him.
Apparently, now that the couple has the family’s blessings, they will reportedly be solemnising their relationship in 2018. Milind Soman had first married French actress Mylène Jampanoï in 2006 which lasted for about three years.

Milind Soman has been in the limelight recently for his relationship with a woman who is far younger than him. The model-turned-actor recently rang in his 52nd birthday with his lady love in Norway and shared a loved-up selfie on the occasion. However, the picture gave rise to a discussion on the age difference between the couple. While the trolls were having a field day, Milind seems to be least bothered as he shared yet another selfie with his air hostess girlfriend, Ankita Konwar.

Taking to Instagram, Milind posted a mirror selfie of himself with Ankita. In the click, the actor is all smiles as Ankita is busy brushing her teeth. Milind also shared some pictures of the two on their trip to see the northern lights. Meanwhile, on social media, the obvious age difference between the couple has divided netizens in two camps- one in favour of it and one against.

'My mother inspired me to take sports seriously'

Model-turned-marathon runner Milind Soman, who just completed one of the world's toughest triathlon ‘Ironman’, credits his mother for inspiring him to take up sports seriously, reports PTI. "I give credit to my mom for inspiring and encouraging me to take sports seriously. She was a professor of bio-chemistry and at the age of 60 when she retired she started trekking. Today, she is 76 and participates in a 100 km trek. She does that every year and has inspired my sisters to join her. They all are above 50," Milind was quoted. The ramp star hails from a family of doctors and professors. As a child he was asked to leave sports and concentrate more on studies, but his mother always supported his involvement with athletics, the report stated. Milind said he decided to promote an all women Marathon as he wanted to create awareness about women's health and breast cancer. "I want women to inspire their family. Women don't take care of themselves. They don't discuss about their health issues with anyone. We wanted to create a platform where women can come even in a saree or salwar kameez and run for their health without any inhibitions."

Read on to know about several instances when Milind Soman made headlines...

Milind Soman is the Marathon man of Bollywood. Even at the age of 49, he is fit and hot! Recently, he grabbed attention as he successfully completed the Ironman Triathlon. The competition is considered as one of the most difficult one-day sporting events in the world. Over the last year, Milind had been training, swimming and cycling to be part of the Ironman Triathlon. He has been a national-level swimmer from India.

Ironman Triathlon is one of the series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bicycle ride and a marathon 26.2-mile (42.2 km) run, raced in that order without a break. Milind Soman completed the race in 15 hours and 19 minutes. Very few Indians have achieved this feat. Milind tweeted, "One Ironman - Done :) beautiful experience, finished in 15hrs.19min thank you for all your good wishes people,..." [sic]

Milind Soman had created a new record on May 20, 2012 when he became a Limca Record holder for running 1500 km in 30 days for Greenathon to spread environmental awareness. The same year, the country's largest 'women's only' running event Pinkathon was set up under his guidance, and it was done to promote good health and breast cancer awareness amongst women. He has also acted in a number of English language and other foreign films.

Milind Soman and his ex-girlfriend reportedly got embroiled in a controversy when they posed nude for a print ad of a popular shoes brand. There was a case registered against them in 1995 after they posed nude wearing only shoes, a python coiled around them. Reportedly, there was another case filed under the Wildlife Protection Act against the advertising agency for illegal use of the python. This advertisement made headlines in the ‘90s.

Former supermodel and actor Milind Soman continues to exude charm. Supermodel, actor, producer, philanthropist and fitness freak, Milind has always had girls swooning over his droolworthy looks since his first ramp appearance in 1988. In an interview, Milind had said, "Modeling happened just by chance, I did not even know such a profession existed. All my family members are into academics and I had no connection with the glamour industry. I was shocked with the kind of money they were paying for doing nothing. I was lucky to be there when the fashion industry in India was just taking off. It is not that I am an amazingly good looking guy. I am good, but it all worked because I was there at the right time. The current lot of models in India have it much tougher. When I started we were just three male models, so we were doing all the shows across the world. It's good that people still remember what I did back then, and it helps me grab attention when I want to do something meaningful."