Ever since Samantha and Naga Chaitanya announced their separation last week, speculation about the reason behind the star couple’s decision to call it quits has been raging on unabated both on social media and in Tollywood circles. Things took a nasty turn when a retired doctor released a video, claiming that Samantha refused to have children to focus on her career, got abortions done twice and even proposed to have a child via surrogacy since she didn’t want to ‘ruin her figure’.

Miffed by the brouhaha triggered by the rumours, Samantha, who had maintained a dignified silence about the rumours circulating around her, finally decided to speak up. “Your emotional investment into a personal crisis has overwhelmed me. Thank you all for showing deep empathy, concern and for defending me against false rumours and stories that are being spread. They say I had affairs, never wanted children, that I am an opportunist and now that I have had abortions,” she wrote on social media.

Vowing that nothing can “break” her spirit, she added, “A divorce in itself is an extremely painful process. Let alone allowing me the time to heal. This attack on me has been relentless. But I promise you this, I will never allow this or anything else they say, break me.”

Soon after Samantha broke her silence, several of her friends expressed their support and reiterated that rumours that she got an abortion done are false. Neelima Guna, who’s bankrolling Sam’s upcoming film Shaakuntalam, says the actress had expressed her wish to have a baby before she signed the project. “When we approached her for the film, Samantha was excited but said period films take time and that she may not be able to commit so much time for the film since she was planning to have a child. We told her that the preproduction was already done and it wouldn’t take much time. So, she agreed to come on board and told us that shooting has to be wrapped up by July or August since she plans to have a child,” says Neelima, adding, “Samantha kept telling me that this will be her last film since she wanted to take a break from acting and have a child.”

When we reached out to some of Samantha’s friends, they confirmed that the actress was indeed planning to have a child. Make-up artist and Samantha’s close friend Sadhna Singh says, “Samantha was extremely excited about having children. She would even read books about parenting to prepare for motherhood. To spread such heartless rumours about her is despicable and disgusting.” She adds, “After the success of The Family Man 2, Samantha had got plenty of offers from Bollywood. Some of them were huge projects, but she said she wanted to have children and turned them down.”