Anisha Ramakrishna chats with ET about tying the knot, but keeping her husband a secret from the cameras -- and some co-stars!
Signing yourself up for a reality show means signing away your privacy, to an extent. Family Karma star Anisha Ramakrishna says, there are workarounds. It's something she learned firsthand while filming season 3 of the Bravo fan-favorite series, all while secretly falling in love.
"I think it's very difficult to start a show single, and you let it all hang out and then you meet someone, and that person didn't sign up for what you're doing," she explains to ET over video chat. "That is kind of what I'm navigating. Having said that, I do share a lot. You just don't see the unicorn."
"Unicorn" is a nickname of sorts for Anisha's now-husband, a mystery man whose identity is yet to be revealed.
"Soon," Anisha promises, before confirming he does not (and seemingly will not) appear on her show, which tracks the lives of a close-knit group of childhood friends of Indian heritage (and their extended -- and overly involved -- families) in the Miami area.
"I mean, you never want to say never, but really, I don't see it happening, quite frankly," she admits.
"He's been the same since day one: 'You do you, I think what you do is amazing, enjoy,'" she says, motioning a shove-away motion, "From [over] there."
Keeping a significant other off-camera isn't unprecedented in the Bravo sphere. Southern Charm star Cameran Eubanks' husband, Jason, didn't film for the series during her six seasons on the show (except for a short cameo in her final episode, un-mic'd).
"I think I have so much to offer on my own, and it's what I signed up for," Anisha replies when asked if her husband's lack of interest in filming will affect her status on the show.
"So, we will see what happens with that in the future, but I love what I do," she continues. "I love sharing my life -- and I do share a lot -- just, you know, I am not sharing a physical person."
"Luckily, I am with someone who is a modern thinker," she goes on to say. "Life is basically now two people with their own lives merging together. Now, I can fully focus on my career without having that burden on my shoulders that I have had every season."
That burden is Anisha's pursuit of love; season 1 saw her recovering from a bad breakup, moving back home to Florida to live with her parents. Season 2, she dove into dating again. She actually met her man during that time.
"It's like a dark cloud over me every season and I finally feel like, alright, now it's like gone," she adds. "I want to tell people out there, I have always been happy single -- and I think happiness is a mindset -- and so it was just society, and not just my family or the Indian community, society, in general, is really tough on women who aren't married, you know? It didn't matter what I did, people just thought there was something wrong with me."
Anisha's parents are happy that she's found someone to settle down with, but she notes, they are still Indian parents.
"They're Indian parents, there's never any congratulations," she says. "It's like, onto the next! ... Like my grandfather? I'm like chopped liver: 'Alright, done!' He's now focused on my sister."
Viewers will see Anisha slowly share the news of her guy on season 3; it's a secret she kept from most of her co-stars. To start, she only told Brian Benni and Bali Chainani.
"[The full cast] knew I was seeing someone," she clarifies, noting only Brian and Bali knew the unicorn's identity. "I think when you're older, you have more fear around what's happening and putting things out there and, honestly, someone who is used to the disappointment, if I'm being raw and real."
"I feel like I'm that person that shares everything," she continues, "and with every guy I would date, I would tell everyone everything and then the next week they'd be like, 'How's it going?' ...and he wasn't in the picture anymore, so that's more or less where that would come from. It's just like, I'm tired of having failed outcomes."
That protective nature carries into Anisha's present-day life. She's shared very few details about her husband, having only announced their engagement on her podcast, Currently Cringing, shortly before actually saying, "I do." Those nuptials won't be seen on season 3, but there are two other weddings set to play out: Vishal Parvani and Richa Sadana's big day, as well as Amrit Kapai and Nicholas Kouchoukos' ceremony.
"The two weddings you are going to see are just out of this world," Anisha promises. "I'm not sure there's ever been such a grand wedding on American television, and two! Viewers are very lucky."
As for what else the audience should get excited about this time around, Anisha previews some dynamic shifts within the crew.
"I can't wait for you to see just all of us grow and develop in our own new chapters, and you will see dynamics change," she teases. "You know, friendships that you thought would you know never fall apart, fall apart, and there's quite the drama this season."
Family Karma airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo, starting with a supersized season 3 premiere on Nov. 6. Check out the trailer below:
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