Noticing Samantha Akkineni's absence at Naga Chaitanya's success bash, fans cry in comments: 'They are getting divorce'

Actor Naga Chaitanya on Thursday took to Instagram to post a group picture from the recent success bash for his film, Love Story. But curious fans wanted to know why his wife Samantha Akkineni wasn't present at the party. 

This comes amid speculation about the couple's marriage, with rumours suggesting that they're on the verge of divorce. Chaitanya captioned his post, “Team #lovestory !! Thank you so much .. you guys have given me memories for a life time ..”

While most people dropped heart and fire emojis in the comments section, several fans wondered why Samantha wasn't there. “Sam?” one person commented, adding crying face emojis. “Where is @samantharuthprabhu sir?” asked another person. A third person joked in Telugu that she must be the one who took the photograph.

The speculation began when Samantha dropped her surname from her social media handles, opting for ‘S’ instead. Later, when she was asked about the rumours while she was on a trip to a temple, she snapped at the reporter and asked him if he didn't have any sense.

Samantha also responded to ‘rumours’ about her personal life, particularly about her relocating to Mumbai, in a recent Instagram Q&A session. Dismissing the speculation, she said, “I don’t know where this rumour started but just like a hundred other rumours, not true. Hyderabad is my home, will always be my home. Hyderabad is giving me everything and I will continue to live here very happily.”

Chaitanya, in an interview prior to the release of Love Story, told Film Companion that he finds it ‘painful’ to see his life be covered so diligently in the press. Asked if the minute-by-minute coverage of his life is ‘hurtful or harmful’, Chaitanya said, “Initially, yes, it was a little painful. I was like ‘why is entertainment heading this way?’ But after that, what I've learned is that in today's age, news replaces news. Today there's one news, tomorrow there's another news, today's news is forgotten. But in my grandfather's time, there were magazines, and magazines used to come once in a month. And that news sustained till you got the next piece of news. But today you're getting the next piece of news the next second or the next minute. It doesn't stay in people's minds for too long. The actual news, the news that matters, will stay. But the superficial news, the news that is used to create TRPs, is forgotten. Once I made this observation, it stopped affecting me."

Samantha was also not present for a dinner party Chaitanya and his father Nagarjuna hosted for actor Aamir Khan recently.