Married in 1998, the Bollywood celebs had filed for divorce by mutual consent last November.

Mumbai, May 12 (Mumbai Mirror): Bollywood couple Arbaaz Khan and Malaika Arora were granted divorce by the family court in Bandra on Thursday. They are the latest celebrities in filmdom to end their marriage amicably, like Hrithik Roshan and Suzanne Khan, and Farhan Akhtar and Adhuna Bhabani, among others.

Malaika, a model, actress and former DJ, had met actor-director Arbaaz at a shoot for a coffee brand advertisement, and the two married in 1998.

Malaika and Arbaaz had filed for divorce in November 2016 and were granted divorce by mutual consent. During these six months —known as the cooling off period — they underwent counselling sessions.

The consent terms are confidential. However, their teenage son Arhaan, who moved out of Arbaaz’s Bandra family home with Malaika in September 2015, will continue to live with his mother in Khar. And Arbaaz will have unrestricted access to him.

While staying away from her matrimonial home, Malaika was fulfilling a mandatory requirement for couples to live separately for at least a year before they approach the court for divorce by mutual consent.

Malaika and Arbaaz have made several public appearances together since they announced their separation last March, putting an end to months of speculation. Their last joint appearance was on May 10, when they accompanied their son to the Justin Bieber concert in Navi Mumbai.

The two arrived at the Bandra Family Court on Thursday morning, dressed in casuals. They appeared before Judge Smita Savaskar and left soon after completing the formalities.

They could not be reached for comment. However, in a joint separation statement released in March last year, Arbaaz had said: “The truth is, we have taken a break.... We are taking out time to figure out our lives. Yes, it’s true that we are separated...wherever it goes from here, we will talk about it when we are ready to.”

The Dabangg actor also posted a photograph on Instagram, with the caption: “Some day you will look back and understand why it all happened the way it did.”