Bass guitar player Mohini Dey has dismissed link-up rumours with former collaborator and "role model" AR Rahman and requested the media to be kind amid her separation from ex-husband Mark Hartsuch.
Dey hit the headlines last week after she announced her split with Hartsuch, also a musician, hours after Rahman shared a statement about parting ways with Saira Banu, his wife of 29 years.
Following the simultaneous announcements, many social media users went on to link up Dey, 28, and Rahman, 57, together, a claim she denied on Monday in an Instagram post.
"It is utterly unbelievable to see the amount of misinformation and baseless assumptions/claims against me & @arrahman.
"I honour my times as a kid working with @arrahman throughout my 8.5 years of working with him for his movies, tours, etc... Kindly stop with the false claims and respect our privacy," the bassist wrote in the caption of the video.
Dey's post comes days after Rahman issued a warning to individuals speculating about his separation from Banu.
In the clip shared on Instagram, Dey said she respects Rahman as a father figure.
"I have a lot of father figures, role models in my life, and I've been really fortunate and grateful to have had them play vital roles in my upbringing. AR happens to be one of them. By AR, I mean AR Rahman. I respect him a lot. He is just like my father.
"He is a little bit younger than my dad. His daughter is exactly my age, I think. We have a lot of respect and love for each other. Anyway, long story short. Please be kind and respect our privacy. It's a personal matter, and it's painful. It's a painful process. So please be kind," she said in the video.
Dey, a musical prodigy who began her professional career when was just 11, has collaborated extensively with Rahman and performed with him in over 40 shows worldwide. She has also performed alongside music icons like Zakir Hussain, Sivamani, Steve Vai, Marco Minnemann, and many others.
Rahman and Banu, who got married in 1995, broke the news of their separation on November 19 in a joint statement.
The former couple said they took the decision to separate after "significant emotional strain in their relationship".
On Saturday, Rahman shared a three-page legal notice addressing those spreading defamatory and "objectionable" content targeting him and his family.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)