Actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu recently drew attention online after liking a viral Instagram post discussing how men are statistically far more likely to leave their partners when they fall ill. Though she didn’t comment or reshare the post, her quiet endorsement with a ‘like’ stirred up conversation given her own health and relationship history.
The post was originally shared by the Instagram page Successverse, featuring a clip from the YouTube channel Diary of a CEO. Titled “Why Men Leave Sick Partners: The Cold Truth Behind Relationship Abandonment”, the video quoted a stark statistic: men are 624% more likely to leave a partner who becomes terminally ill, compared to women, who overwhelmingly stay and provide care. The discussion in the video attributed this pattern to gender roles, emotional immaturity, and societal conditioning. Since its upload, the video has crossed 60k views, one of which came from Samantha herself.
The post resonated with many, but Samantha’s visible support struck a deeper chord. In 2022, the actor revealed she had been diagnosed with myositis, a rare and painful autoimmune condition that affects muscles. Around the same time, she was recovering from her divorce with actor Naga Chaitanya, whom she married in 2017 after dating since 2015. Rumours of trouble had started swirling in 2020 when she dropped his surname, and the separation became official in 2021.
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Though Samantha has maintained a dignified silence about the divorce, her public health journey has often been framed as one of resilience. Her like on this post — subtle yet powerful — felt like a quiet nod to her own experience.
Samantha was last seen in Citadel: Honey Bunny (2024) alongside Varun Dhawan. While Amazon has reportedly shelved the show’s second season, she’s currently filming for Netflix’s Rakt Brahmand: The Bloody Kingdom.