Asim Riaz Responds to Himanshi Khurana’s Religion Remarks: ‘I Never Asked Anyone to Change Their Religion’

THE CELEBRITY HOUR

Asim Riaz has publicly denied ever asking former partner Himanshi Khurana to change her religion, responding more than a week after her comments about the religious conflict she experienced during a past relationship reignited discussion around their 2023 breakup.

In a lengthy social-media statement shared on August 23, Asim wrote: “I never asked anyone to change their religion. Not once.” He went on to tell his unnamed target not to “use religion as a weapon,” describing faith as too sensitive a subject to be turned into a reason for people to hate him.

The response is significant because the underlying public narrative has become more definitive than Himanshi’s original podcast remarks actually were.

Himanshi did not name Asim during the Paras Chhabra podcast while discussing the religious tension in her past relationship. She did, however, describe being encouraged to understand and accept her partner’s faith, questioning whether she would eventually have to give up her own practices and reaching a point where she felt she was “betraying” her God. Since she and Asim had already publicly stated in 2023 that religion was the reason their relationship ended, the remarks were widely interpreted as referring to him.

That distinction matters: Himanshi described a personal experience involving pressure and religious incompatibility; Asim has now explicitly denied that he ever asked anyone to convert.

What Asim Riaz Actually Said

Asim’s statement was direct on the central allegation.

“I never asked anyone to change their religion. Not once,” he wrote, before accusing the other side of turning a deeply personal subject into a public attack.

His post went beyond religion and became considerably more personal. He brought up Himanshi’s fitness and appearance, claimed he had encouraged her physical transformation, and separately attacked podcast host Paras Chhabra with insulting remarks about his body.

Those comments are part of his response, but they do not establish anything about the original religion dispute.

The key factual position remains narrower: Asim denies ever asking Himanshi—or anyone else—to change religion.

What Himanshi Khurana Had Said

Himanshi’s recent comments came during a podcast conversation with Paras Chhabra in which she discussed faith, spirituality and how her relationship forced her to reconsider her own religious identity.

She said her partner would explain the positive aspects of his religion and wanted her to understand and accept it. Importantly, she also said there was “nothing wrong with him” and that he had not misbehaved with her.

Her conflict, according to her account, became deeply personal.

She said she reached a stage where she wondered what would happen to her own faith and traditions if she accepted a different religious path. She recalled thinking about whether she would ultimately be cremated or buried, and said the experience made her feel that she was betraying her God.

Some publications subsequently converted those remarks into stronger headlines saying Asim had asked or pressured her to convert to Islam. But the original account is more nuanced.

Himanshi did not name him during the discussion and did not, in the most carefully documented version of her remarks, use a simple direct formulation such as “Asim told me to convert.”

She described a situation in which she felt pressure to accept another faith and believed doing so could require giving up her own religious practices.

Himanshi Later Said the Controversy Was Being Blown Out of Proportion

Another important detail is what happened immediately after the podcast.

As online coverage increasingly framed the interview as a conversion allegation against Asim, Himanshi posted a clarification on Instagram Stories.

She described the controversy as a “storm in a teacup” and said she had simply been discussing her own personal experience rather than speaking negatively about anyone. The Story was subsequently deleted, but its wording was documented by several publications.

That clarification further complicates headlines presenting Himanshi as having launched a straightforward accusation that Asim tried to forcibly convert her.

Her story was about how religious incompatibility affected her emotionally. The public interpretation then hardened into a more specific allegation, which Asim has now denied.

Religion Was Already the Public Reason for Their 2023 Breakup

What is not in dispute is that religion was central to their separation.

On December 6, 2023, Himanshi publicly announced that the couple had parted ways after around four years together. Her statement said they were “sacrificing our love for our different religious beliefs.”

Asim then issued his own statement the following day and agreed with that explanation.

“Yes indeed we both agreed to sacrifice our love for our respective religious beliefs,” he wrote, adding that the decision was mutual and asking people to respect their privacy.

That 2023 exchange is particularly relevant now.

It establishes that religious incompatibility was not invented later by Himanshi as part of the 2026 podcast discussion. Both Asim and Himanshi publicly acknowledged it when they separated.

What remains disputed is what specifically happened inside the relationship and whether Asim ever directly asked her to change faith.

Himanshi Even Shared Their Private Chat in 2023

After the original breakup announcement attracted criticism, Himanshi shared part of a private conversation with Asim to explain why she had publicly mentioned religion.

At the time, she said she did not want anyone blaming Asim, but equally did not want herself to be blamed. She described herself as secular and said choosing her own religion did not mean disrespecting anyone else’s.

Contemporary reports also documented that the chat suggested Asim had encouraged her to state the real reason behind the breakup rather than hiding the religious difference.

Again, that does not resolve the current disagreement over conversion.

It does establish that in 2023 both parties were comfortable publicly identifying religious beliefs as the central incompatibility.

The Couple Met on Bigg Boss 13

Asim and Himanshi met during Bigg Boss 13, where Himanshi entered as a wildcard contestant.

Their relationship developed during and after the reality show, and they later appeared together in several music videos, including Kalla Sohna Nai, Khyaal Rakhya Kar, Afsos Karoge and Dil Ko Maine Di Kasam.

They remained together for roughly four years before announcing their separation in December 2023.

Their breakup attracted considerable attention partly because their relationship had been so publicly associated with the Bigg Boss franchise.

The current dispute, however, is not about whether the relationship ended because of religion. Both parties already confirmed that.

It is about how that religious difference manifested privately.

What Can Actually Be Confirmed?

The available public record supports four clear conclusions.

First, Asim and Himanshi themselves said in 2023 that differing religious beliefs caused their breakup.

Second, Himanshi’s 2026 podcast remarks describe feeling that accepting her partner’s faith could require abandoning aspects of her own, leading to a serious internal crisis.

Third, she did not name Asim while recounting that experience, even though the known history of their relationship led virtually all coverage to connect her comments to him.

Fourth, Asim has now explicitly denied ever asking anyone to change religion.

There is no independently available evidence that allows an outside publication to determine which description most accurately reflects private conversations between them.

The Celebrity Hour Take

This story has become more polarised in headlines than the source material warrants.

Himanshi’s podcast account clearly indicates that religion became a major source of discomfort and that she felt she was being drawn toward a religious identity she did not want to adopt. That experience is hers to describe.

Asim is equally clear in his denial: he says he never asked anyone to change religion.

The responsible position is therefore not to choose one account and convert it into established fact.

What can be verified is that their relationship ended because of religious incompatibility—something both of them acknowledged in December 2023. What cannot currently be independently established is whether Asim explicitly demanded conversion, whether Himanshi experienced indirect pressure rather than a direct request, or whether the two remember private conversations differently.

There is also a broader editorial lesson here. Religion is sensitive enough without turning an ambiguous relationship dispute into a communal headline.

The strongest reporting keeps the focus where the evidence actually is: Himanshi described her experience; Asim denies asking her to convert; the private truth cannot be independently adjudicated from social-media statements.

Sources & Verification

The Celebrity Hour reviewed Himanshi Khurana’s recent podcast remarks as documented by multiple publications, her subsequent Instagram clarification, Asim Riaz’s August 23 social-media response and the former couple’s original December 2023 breakup statements.

The central conversion claim has deliberately not been presented as an established fact. Himanshi did not name Asim during the podcast, while Asim has now directly denied ever asking anyone to change religion.

Their religious incompatibility itself is strongly verified because both publicly cited differing religious beliefs when announcing their breakup in 2023.