From recalling her past relationship to her views on arranged marriage; Reem Shaikh reveals that if she doesn't find the right suitor, she will adopt a 'baby girl'

Reem Shaikh has often mentioned that 5 years from now and she wishes to settle down and have a family. In the recent podcast with Bharti Singh and Haarsh Limbachiyaa, the actress shared her take on marriage and also recalled her past relationship. Here's what she shared:

When it comes to love, I’m really old school. Like, I don’t think anyone at 22 would just sit and say, “Hey, if you know a good guy, let me know, I want to get married.” You know, like I see myself that way. If you ask me, “Are you marriage material?” Yeah, like if you ask, “What are your plans for the next five years?” I want to see myself married within the next five years. Because I’m really old school.

And I don’t really get into all that stuff because I know if I break up in three or four months, the pain won’t be like a breakup after three or four years. I’m the kind of person who, I mean, I believe you know, like real good love, romance, and you know, the kind of love that people talk about. That’s what I want. And of course, it’s not like whoever I date, I’ll marry them for sure. But at least I want to date someone who has the mindset of wanting to settle down, someone who’s like, yeah, I want that too.

There are two types of situations: one is where I’m like, "Yeah, let me just date this person and see how it goes," just passing time without any serious intention. Then the other is when I have a real intention, like, "I want to make this work, and I’ll try my best to make it work, and if it does, I want to marry her." That’s my mindset, so I want someone who shares the same mindset as me. So, I’m totally open to arranged marriage, but if I fall in love with someone, I’ll definitely tell my parents, like, "Hey, I genuinely care about this person, I’m really attached to them."

I think this was about four years ago. I was really, really attached to that person, but it didn’t work out. I think within six months of just talking, both of us understood it wasn’t going to happen, so we just decided to part ways. But I think that kind of love stays unfinished in your mind. I think that’s what happened with me. My mom knows everything. My mom knows I’m here. She knows that this guy asked me to meet him. Like, my mom would know everything. I didn’t hide anything from my mom. And all the boys knew that I never kept anything from her. So whenever I used to go meet someone, I’d always tell my mom, like, “Mom, this is so-and-so, I met him on set, he’s asking to meet me,” and I’d say, “I’ll be back in an hour.” So my mom knew about him. But I think it was kind of an incomplete love that stayed in my mind. After that, I really tried, you know, to be with someone.

I did try, but it never worked out with anyone, so I kind of I realised that what I felt in those six months, I didn’t get even in a whole year with someone else. So when I came to understand that even after being with someone for a year, I didn’t feel that same peace or love I had in those six months, I understood that I’m not someone who can just jump into things. So yeah, I’m not in a rush. And I’m really, I mean really set on getting married within five years. And if that doesn’t happen—just in case I don’t find the right partner or love—I’ll consider adopting.

Nice, cute baby girl, and I’ll spend my life with her. But in the next five years, I see myself married. And if I’m not married, I swear I’ll adopt a baby girl and live my life with her, just like I live my life with my mom, who’s my best friend and my everything right now. Like, she’s literally my everything. We don’t say “I love you” all the time or anything, but we do fight a lot, too. Still, she’s my mom and my best friend. Like, she really is my best friend. Besides her, no one else really matters to me in life right now.

So I just want to have the same kind of relationship with my mom. Also, I want to get married and have kids soon because I want my kids to live with my mom. Like, yeah, my brother, they should get my mom’s love. They should stay with her. When it comes to all that, I’m pretty clear. We’ll get married in about five years. If there’s a good guy around, someone nice, just let me know. Come on, Bharti Aunty’s matrimonial site has an exclusive for Reem Sheikh.