Abhishek Bachchan says marriage with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is based on equality and partnership: 'Through our courtship, engagement..'

Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan have been married since 2007. They became parents to a daughter, Aaradhya Bachchan in 2011. In a recent interview, Abhishek has opened up on how friendship has remained the core of his marriage with Aishwarya since the time they first met. When asked that most men do not prefer a stronger woman or someone more successful, Abhishek said, "When my parents got married, my mother was the much bigger star than my father was. So it was not an unnatural thing. I wasn’t brought up to think that you have to be the dominant one; it was always about partnership. I have known Aishwarya from the start of my career. The second film I did was with her, and she is the one actress that I have worked with the most. We weren’t in a relationship then, we were buddies, we were always friends.” He further spoke about not having any ego and being in a marriage of equals. "When we did finally come together through our courtship, engagement and then our marriage, it was always about a partnership. There has never been a discussion like, ‘I am going to bring the food and you take care of the house.’ It’s not even discussed; it flows very naturally. But that comes from severe ego, for me. I am not somebody who wants to win because someone else laid down and so you walk over. I was raised to believe that you earn your wins. My father did not launch me and has not made a film for me to date. In fact, I produced a film for him. I am glad. Whatever I am today, I can say I have achieved it on my own merit. The reason I say ego is I have never been the kind of person that somebody else has to give up or stop running for me to win that race.”On work front, Abhishek will be seen next in 'King' also starring Shah Rukh Khan, Suhana Khan, Deepika Padukone among others.