How Freida Pinto’s ‘quarter-life crisis’ led to her break up with Dev Patel

The road to womanhood is never easy...

Words by Karen Fratti

Breaking up is hard to do and hard to watch from afar. So after the Freida Pinto and Dev Patel break up in 2014, we totally felt their pain. Fans finally have some answers, though, about what went down, since Freida Pinto opened up about the breakup with her Slumdog Millionaire co-star.

In an interview with Weekend (the magazine, not the pop star), Pinto said the breakup was actually just about self-care and not because she didn’t love Patel. The breakup was the result of what can only be called a “quarter life crisis.”

She said, 'For me it started at the age of 28, 29. Maybe it’s the body. Maybe it’s something about moving into womanhood from being a girl. You start asking, "What do I really want?'''

Freida, we *feel* you. Pinto said that she had everything she could ever ask for — a career, love, some money. But she felt she had been neglecting herself.

She added: 'You can be with someone and it can be really good for your growth. That’s what Dev was for me. The seven years I was with him were so impactful. But I ended up being single when I started thinking about these other things.'

Sometimes you just have to move on from a relationship.

It’s heartbreaking, but very, very true, that sometimes people just grow out of relationships. It’s often for the better, even though it’s hard to move on. Yet, Pinto said that she’s loving being single.

'For the first time, I finally understand the concept of self-love and self-care. I’m single and happy, and busy. I haven’t been single for a long time. It’s like being born again.'

YAS. Being in a relationship can be amazing and give you so much emotionally, but having the time to get to know yourself and do what’s best for you and only you is also just as important. Just in case you’re worried, she and Patel are still buddies after dating for seven years.

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'You can’t share such a monumental shift in life, then not be friends. That would be the saddest thing ever.' Pinto said. Whew, thank goodness, because that would sort of break out hearts even more than the OG breakup did.

Right now, Pinto is working on a new miniseries for Sky in the United Kingdom called Guerrilla. It’s all about the Black Power movement in London during the 1970s, and sounds pretty amazing. Let’s cross our fingers it makes its way across the pond as soon as humanly possible.

In the meantime, here’s to Pinto doing her thing.

From the editors of Hello Giggles