After winning Bigg Boss OTT Season 3 last year, Sana Makbul’s life changed overnight. While fame, love, and appreciation poured in from fans, the success also exposed uncomfortable cracks in her personal life. For the unversed, Sana was dating businessman Srikanth Bureddy; however, reports indicated the couple broke up amicably in 2025 beginning.
Now, in a candid conversation with The Free Press Journal, Sana spoke about how her growing success created friction in her romantic relationship, how insecurity crept in where support should have existed, and why she ultimately chose to walk away.
Sana speaks about how her success disrupted her relationship, revealing how difficult it still is for strong, ambitious women to be fully accepted.
“You said people can’t handle strong-headed women - that’s absolutely true. Especially men can’t handle women like us. I’ve experienced that. In my personal relationship, when I went ahead of the man, he didn’t like it. He didn’t like it. So I think that balance is still not there in our society. I’m still struggling with it. This is the way I am, and you have to accept me. I may adjust and accommodate you, but you need to accept me. I really don’t care about the world, but when my personal relationships get sour because of my achievements, then that becomes problematic.”
She also explains how insecurity replaced affection in her relationship, pushing her to finally choose self-respect over emotional confusion.
“I would say that when a girl is strong, it’s difficult for her to get accepted in a relationship. Acceptance is extremely difficult. It’s very difficult for a man to accept that, ‘Oh, she’s doing better than me,’ or ‘Oh, she’s loved by many.’ They do get insecure about it. I’ve faced this in my personal life. I’ve seen that the person who loved me suddenly started having issues with a lot of things. For some time, I didn’t understand what really happened because I didn’t change, but he did. My friends and family are still the same with me, but why did he change? Some things definitely changed. I didn’t like that. I was adjusting and accommodating to understand, but then I didn’t understand it. And I feel when you don’t understand certain things, you should leave it at that and just let go.”
Sana credits her upbringing and supportive parents for shaping her fearless, grounded and unapologetically fierce personality.
“I have been brought up in a family that is very woman-oriented. My father has always been our biggest cheerleader and supporter. He always wanted to see his girls do well in life, and we are three girls, you know. I would say that my father knows his responsibilities as a father. We have been told our boundaries and I think we are all very disciplined girls. So, I think my upbringing has taught me a lot. My mother has always told me one thing: if you are wrong, you bow your head down. But if you are not wrong, be that bull - show me a red cloth, and I will be like zup! So yeah, I am like that in real life also. I don’t do wrong to anyone, nor do I listen to anyone. I only listen to my heart," Sana concludes.
