Signing you in

Rapper Badshah and Isha Rikhi announced their divorce on Monday, August 31, five months after getting married. Speculation about trouble in their marriage had been doing the rounds for some time, but nothing was confirmed until Monday.

From keeping their relationship under wraps and away from the spotlight to their hush-hush wedding and eventual separation, here’s a look at Badshah and Isha Rikhi’s relationship timeline.

According to several reports, the two met at a mutual friend’s party, where sparks flew and love blossomed. They dated for several years but never made their relationship public, leaving fans guessing about their equation.

A strong rumour about Badshah potentially marrying Isha Rikhi surfaced across social media in 2023. However, the Indian Idol judge quashed the reports by taking to his Instagram account. He wrote, “Dear media, I respect you but this is super lame. Im not getting married. Whoever’s feeding you this bullshit needs to find better masala (sic).”

In March 2026, Isha Rikhi’s mother, Poonam Rikhi, shared photos of Badshah and her daughter participating in traditional Punjabi wedding ceremonies, hinting that the two had tied the knot. The wedding reportedly took place in the presence of a few close family members.

The wedding photos quickly spread across social media, but Badshah never acknowledged the reports. He remained tight-lipped about the matter until Monday, when he announced his divorce from Isha.

Isha later hosted an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on Instagram, where she was flooded with questions about her marriage to Badshah. To put an end to the speculation, Isha shared a question from a fan who asked about their marriage and why they did not follow each other on Instagram. In response, Isha wrote, “I’m officially being flooded with questions like, ‘Are you married?’, ‘Are you married to Badshah?’, ‘Why don’t you follow each other?’ and ‘Why don’t you post pictures together?’”

Isha finally confirmed the wedding rumours by saying, “Yes, I am married.”

She also addressed the much-asked question about them not following each other on Instagram and asked Badshah to address it. She wrote, “Now, coming to the most asked question: Why don’t you follow each other? Honestly, I think my husband owes all of you an explanation. Pati Dev (Badshah), the audience has questions. Please address them as soon as possible (sic),” along with a laughing-out-loud emoji.

However, Badshah never addressed the questions surrounding his marriage, nor did he share any photos of the two together.

Earlier this week, Isha Rikhi shared a video featuring photos of herself with Badshah from their holidays, festivals, family celebrations and gatherings. However, it was the caption overlaid on the video that grabbed attention. It read, “Every storm is a lesson. Every prayer is a hope (sic).”

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Soon after, Isha shared another emotional post in which she spoke about choosing “courage over fear” after staying silent for long. In the post, she wrote, “There are battles that leave no visible scars. For a long time, I remained silent because I was afraid. I felt overwhelmed by the influence, power, and resources I believed my husband had, and I convinced myself that staying quiet was the safest thing to do (sic).”

Isha Rikhi’s industry friends like Suyyash Rai, Jasmine Bhasin, and a few others comforted her by asking her to stay strong. “Stay strong. Truth shall prevail (sic),” read Wamiqa Gabbi‘s message.

Amid Isha’s posts, it was Poonam Rikhi’s cryptic Instagram stories that also attracted attention. Her posts spoke about karma and justice, prompting netizens to wonder whether they were linked to the separation rumours surrounding Isha and Badshah. One of the images showed a woman kneeling and praying to Lord Shiva, accompanied by the caption, “Karma comes back around. If you make life difficult for someone, God will make your death difficult.”

Another Instagram story by Poonam read, “Karma never forgives; if you have made someone cry, tears are inevitable for you too. There is no judge greater than Karma; the ledger of Karma never lies. When the time comes, Karma delivers justice without bias. God might forgive you, but your Karma will never forgive you.”

Isha Rikhi is a Punjabi actor who made her debut with the film Boys Putt Jattan De in 2013. She went on to feature in films including Happy Go Lucky, Mere Yaar Kaminey, What the Jatt and Ardaas. Apart from these Punjabi films, Rikhi also starred in the Hindi film Nawabzaade.

She is followed on Instagram by several prominent names from the film industry, including Raghav Juyal, Shehnaaz Gill, Mukesh Chhabra, Wamiqa Gabbi, Munawar Faruqui and Rohit Bose Roy, among others.

Notably, Isha and her mother, Poonam, have still retained photos and videos from the wedding on their respective social media accounts.

For the unversed, before marrying Isha after years of dating her, Badshah was previously married to Jasmine Masih for eight years, and the couple have a daughter together, Jessemy.

Badshah and Jasmine tied the knot in 2012 and officially divorced in 2020, reportedly citing cultural differences. Badshah had kept this marriage also private until Raftaar publicly congratulated him on the arrival of his baby girl in January 2017.

Jasmine, who was born and raised in London, reportedly supported Badshah during his struggling years.

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