Celina Jaitly posted an old family photograph on Instagram on September 17 and called the people in it her most valuable treasures. Most of them, in one way or another, are no longer part of her daily life.

The picture shows Celina with her parents, her brother Major (Retd.) Vikrant Kumar Jaitly, and her twin sons Winston and Viraaj Haag. Her youngest son, Arthur, isn't in the frame. He hadn't been born yet.

Her caption ran long, and it read like someone working through grief in real time rather than crafting a post. "I am unsure which pain was worse.. The shock of what happened or the ache for what never will," she wrote, before adding that she still can't believe what her family has been through. "I find myself in a script I didn't sign up for.. A story only possible in films.."

She went further, writing about how ordinary family moments get taken for granted until they're gone. "We take our relationships for granted. Our parents, our siblings, our children," she wrote, before describing the pull of an old photograph once the people in it have scattered or passed on.

The losses she's referring to are real and they're stacked close together. Her father, Colonel Vikram Kumar Jaitly, died in July 2017 after a long illness. Her mother, Dr. Meeta Jaitly, died less than a year later, in June 2018, following a battle with cancer. In between, Celina lost her son Shamsher, one half of a twin pregnancy, shortly after his birth, to a congenital heart condition. His brother Arthur survived.

What makes this post land differently is the moment it's arriving in. Celina is currently going through divorce and custody proceedings with her estranged husband Peter Haag, and she's said publicly that she's been kept apart from Winston, Viraaj and Arthur, who are in Austria. She's spoken before about missing things as ordinary as the start of a school year.

Her brother, meanwhile, has been detained in the UAE since September 2024. Celina had approached the Delhi High Court seeking access and communication with him. That petition was closed in March this year after a statement attributed to Vikrant, recorded during a consular visit, said he did not wish to be in touch with his sister. Bollywood Hungama reported that Celina has continued to speak about him publicly since, describing his absence as one more loss layered on top of the others she's already carrying.

She ended this latest post without resolution, writing that she doesn't know if what's happened is "karma from a past life" or something she can't explain, and that no answer makes it easier. The custody case continues. So does the silence from her brother. Neither has a date attached to when, or if, either changes.