Shilpa Shetty's life in pics

Shilpa Shetty was born on the 8th of June 1975 to Sunanda and Surendra Shetty. Even as a child, the performer in Shilpa was always visible.

A trained Bharatnatyam dancer, Shilpa attended St. Anthony Girls' High School in Chembur, and later attended Podar College in Matunga.

She was the captain of the volleyball team in school and has earned a black belt in karate.

Shetty's younger sister Shamita Shetty is also a Bollywood actress. They worked together once in the film Fareb (2005).

Shilpa Shetty started her modelling career with Limca in 1991, when she was just 16.

Shilpa had previously dated Akshay Kumar, but the couple broke up in 2000 after he started dating Twinkle Khanna.

There were also reports about her alleged affair with director Anubhav Sinha, but the actress denied it.

Shilpa had been dating businessman Raj Kundra since 2008. There were accusations from Kundra's ex-wife that Shilpa broke them up, but Kundra denies this vehemently, and even his ex-wife ultimately took back her statement.

She married Raj Kundra on 22 November 2009.

The couple later hosted a reception, which was attended by Bollywood biggies like Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Rani Mukherjee to name a few.

After a brief stint as an ad model, Shilpa made her debut in Bollywood in 1993 with the superhit film Baazigar, where she acted along with Shah Rukh Khan (this picture, right) and Kajol. Her role got her a Filmfare nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category.

Shilpa and Raj have a flat together in England.

Post-Baazigar, Shilpa acted in a number of midly successful films. One of her landmark films was Main Khiladi Tu Anari, where she acted opposite Akshay Kumar. Soon after, Shilpa went out with Akshay Kumar.

By 1996, Shilpa's success rate in Bollywood was dwindling, and since she was fluent in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada, she decided to work in the regional film industry as well. Her first Telugu film was called Sahasa Veerudu Sagara Kanya.

The next important Bollywood film that Shilpa did was Rishtey (2002), opposite Anil Kapoor and Karishma Kapoor. Shilpa was nominated by Filmfare yet again in the Best Supporting Actress category, but she failed to win the award.

The next important Bollywood film that Shilpa did was Rishtey (2002), opposite Anil Kapoor and Karishma Kapoor (this picture, right). Shilpa was nominated by Filmfare yet again in the Best Supporting Actress category, but she failed to win the award.

In 2004, Shilpa did Phir Milenge, one of her more successful films in the latter part of her career. The role got her a Filmfare nomination in the Best Actress category. It also made her aware of the AIDS problem, for which she has been working ever since.

The biggest twist in Shilpa's life came in 2007, when she was invited to be part of the Celebrity Big Brother house in London. She faced racial abuse from her housemate Jade Goody, who referred to her in many derogatory ways, including calling her 'Shilpa pappodam'.

The racist abuse got Jade Goody evicted from the Big Brother house, and many interviews and images of a devastated Shilpa got her sympathy from across the world. She went on to win Celebrity Big Brother. Rumours of the the entire episode being staged were rampant and till date Shilpa denies any fixing.

Since the racist abuse caused much embarassment to the British goverment and people, the country went out of its way to make it up to Shilpa. Queen Elizabeth II also made time to meet Shilpa Shetty.

Shilpa was given the rare honour of being invited to the House of Commons and meeting the British PM Gordon Brown.

By the time Shilpa came back to India, looking tired, and yet relieved to be back on home soil, she was an international martyr and an Indian hero who stood up to racism. She was received at the airport by her parents and thousands of fans.

Shilpa was also conferred an honorary doctorate by Leeds Metropolitan University for her courage in the face of racist abuse.

In 2007, Shilpa received the IIFA Special Award for Global Impact. She received many such awards that year including the Silver Star Award for her outstanding contribution to humanitarian causes and the Rajiv Gandhi National Quality award.

The year 2007 was determined to be a big one in Shilpa's life. Apart from all the Big Brother controversy, she was also caught in a controversy with Hollywood star Richard Gere. The two had met for an AIDS awareness event, where Gere publicly kissed her on the cheek a few times, raising the ire of right-wing groups. The event reached such proportions that arrest warrants for Shilpa and Gere were issued, but later suspended.

In 2008, Shilpa decided to expand her talents and reach. She became one of Baba Ramdev's star pupils and launched her own Yoga DVD. She also turned beautician and started her own spa.

Among Shilpa's charitable ventures, is PETA and she posed as a caged animal to protest cruelty towards animals in the circus.

In mid-2008, Shilpa was invited to be the host of the Indian version of Celebrity Big Brother, called Bigg Boss. Jade Goody came to participate in the show, and it was while she was in India that Jade learned that she had cancer, which eventually was the cause of her death.

Shilpa also bought a stake in the Rajashtan Royals IPL team along with Raj.