Imran Khan breaks silence on second wife, says she is his biggest mistake

Reham Khan, in a book, had accused Imran of having fathered illegitimate children and of taking drugs and being a bisexual.

File photo of Imran Khan and Reham Khan.

A single book created rumbles of colossal proportions in the already volatile Pakistani politics. In it, the leader of the country's main opposition party was accused of being bisexual, taking drugs and of having fathered several illegitimate children - many of whom were of Indian women.

That the book was about Imran Khan and was written by his second wife Reham Khan meant that just weeks before Pakistan votes, the ramifications of the accusations may have already been felt far and wide. While several leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) - the party headed by Imran - slammed the book as a 'collection of ghastly lies', the cricketer-turned-politician only recently opened up on what he felt about the author and his ex wife. "The biggest mistake of my life," he told UK's DailyMail.

In an interview, Imran said that he has always looked to keep his private life out of public scrutiny and media spotlight but added that this time was an exception. "Normally I don't say anything about Reham, but I will say this: I've made some mistakes in my life, but my second marriage has to be the biggest."

Imran was married to Reham - a weather presenter for BBC and British by nationality - for all of ten months before a divorce ended it all. Before Reham, Imran was married to Jemima Goldsmith - another Briton - and that lasted from 1995 to 2004. The PTI chief said that he is still friends with Jemima and that they often speak, but that his current wife - Bushra Maneka - has been his real source of inspiration. The two got married earlier this year and he revealed during the interview that he had not even seen Bushra till after the wedding ceremony. "I did not catch a glimpse of my wife's face until after we were married. I proposed to her without seeing her because she had never met me without her face being covered with a full veil,"  he said, adding that it is because she is a spiritual guide in the Sufi branch of Islam and does not meet men apart from her husband without a veil covering her face. "When I did see her after the wedding, I was not disappointed," Imran added.

A charismatic personality, many feel Imran is poised to win the Pakistani elections despite all the controversies and allegations. He himself has said that he is 'quitely confident' about the prospect of becoming the country's next PM.