Actor Anupama Parameswaran, who recently opened up about her traumatic past relationship, has revealed that she tried couple’s therapy with her former partner during their two-year relationship, but it failed because he presented a different version of himself during the sessions. Anupama was rumoured to be in a relationship with actor Dhruv Vikram.

Speaking on the I AM With Dhanya Varma show, she said her partner had been attending his individual therapy sessions, and would be a different version of himself for two days, before reverting to the same “narcissistic” behaviour. “He would go to therapy, and you would see a change for two days,” she said. After those two days, the cycle would resume as if the session had never happened.

At one point, Anupama said she pushed for them to attend couple’s therapy together, hoping that a shared session with a professional would help address what was breaking in the relationship. Explaining her rationale behind the decision, she said, “Whether he did this intentionally or not, we still can’t say. I would ask myself what was real? Was the love real or the hate? We still can’t say. And when I think about the moments of love, I feel that’s real. However, when I think about the moments of apology, I feel that is real too. Then when I think of the moment of hate and anger, I feel that is also real.” She observed that he was “not his real self” in front of the therapist.

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“I understood that this person was not their real self in the therapy,” she said. After that session, she asked him to continue with couple’s therapy. He refused. “I don’t know why that person didn’t show interest,” she said. “But he was not ready for it.”

Anupama went on to describe the deeper challenge of treating narcissistic behaviour through therapy. “Narcissistic people saying yes to therapy is rare,” she said. “And even if they agree to therapy, are they manipulating as well? Because we don’t know if they are presenting their real self. So, it is very difficult.”

She raised a question that she said still troubles her. The behaviour she experienced, cruelty behind closed doors contrasted with kindness and charm in public, was a shock for her. “When they go outside, they are able to talk to everyone very kindly and humbly. But when they come inside the room, it’s different,” she said. “If it’s a disorder, it’s something you can’t control. But then why do they behave so differently outside and then so differently inside? They are two different people.”

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Anupama said the therapy experience was a turning point for her, not because it helped the relationship but because it confirmed what she had been sensing for months: that her partner was capable of presenting entirely different versions of himself depending on who was in the room. “Don’t ever try to fix them,” she said later in the interview. “They are not going to be fixed.”

Anupama did not name her former partner in the interview. She has been romantically linked to actor Dhruv Vikram since the two starred together in Mari Selvaraj’s Bison Kaalamaadan (2025), though neither has confirmed or denied the relationship publicly.

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