Celina Jaitly wrote to her three sons this week, admitting she won't make it to their first day of school as her divorce from husband Peter Haag drags through the courts. The actor posted the note on Instagram, addressed to Winston, Viraaj and Arthur, and it reads less like a celebrity statement and more like a letter she'd have preferred to hand over in person.

She's not hiding how much this costs her. "I once covered your schoolbooks. Today, I cover you in prayers," she wrote, before running through years of small rituals now out of reach, the ladybug Schultüten she made in Dubai, the Schnecke and Laadi Pavs she baked the week before term started in Austria.

"I will not be able to be there for your first day of school, and I fear I may miss all your school days for the rest of 2026," she added. "My heart breaks at this painful situation."

The note goes further than a mother marking a milestone from a distance. Jaitly used it to tell her sons, in plain terms, that they don't need to pick sides. "My boys, you never have to choose. You can love both Mummy and Daddy. Mummy will always support that. You never need to feel guilty about loving either of us," she wrote, closing with a line meant purely as reassurance: "Whenever you can reach out, Mama is here. My love has no conditions, and no distance can change it."

The backdrop here is a legal fight that has turned serious. Haag reportedly filed for divorce in an Austrian court last year. Since then, Celina has filed a complaint with the Mumbai Police, who have registered an FIR against Haag under several sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, covering allegations of physical violence, cruelty, criminal intimidation and sustained harassment, according to Bollywood Hungama. None of this has been proven in court, and authorities are said to be going through statements and documentary evidence as the case proceeds.

Jaitly married Haag in 2010, not long after stepping back from mainstream Bollywood work. The couple had twin boys in 2012 and a second set of twins in 2017. One of that second pair, Shamsher, died shortly after birth from a heart condition, a loss Jaitly has spoken about publicly before, including on what would have been his birthday.

What happens next, on custody, on the Austrian filing, on the Mumbai FIR, is still an open question. Jaitly's note reads like someone bracing for a school year spent mostly on the outside of it.