After a three-year relationship - also known as Bollywood's worst-kept secret - Aishwarya Rai and Viveik Oberoi have split.

Said a source close to the couple, "Viveik had told a friend some months ago that Ash's continued refusal to acknowledge their relationship publicly hurt him deeply. This was one of the main reasons they split. In fact, the same issue had bothered Salman as well - Ash never publicly acknowledged his presence in her life too."

Low profile

Sources say this is the reason Ash has kept a low profile since returning to Mumbai from a marathon shoot in Tunisia for her first Hollywood film, The Last Legion.

After her return, the actress first plunged into the shooting of Dhoom 2, and has since been busy with the shooting of J P Dutta's Umrao Jaan in Jaipur. Viveik, meanwhile, has been doing his best to side-step questions about Aishwarya.

Though there was much speculation about a supposed split over the past few months, the couple was spotted together in public a number of times. This silenced murmurs of a break-up. But last week, at the premiere of Deewane Huye Paagal (which features Viveik as narrator), the actor arrived with his family, minus Ash.

Rais didn't like him

According to sources, close to Ash, her family - especially her mother - never warmed to Viveik. And when the actor publicly confessed his love for Ash - to a news channel and on Koffee with Karan - the Rais weren't too pleased.

Wedding blues

Another cause of the split was the dreaded S-word - shaadi. The Rais were getting impatient, but Vivek (29), who's younger than Ash (32), wanted to concentrate solely on his career. In the end, there were too many issues and no solution in sight. The couple took a mutual decision to separate.

Last appearance together

Ash and Viveik were last seen together at a mutual friend's birthday party in August, when they arrived with arms wrapped around each other. That was just before Ash left to shoot The Last Legion in Tunisia, and Viveik was spending as much time with her as possible. While Ash hobnobbed at the bash, an impatient Viveik was spotted urging her to leave.

'It's personal'

Mid Day spoke to Ash's business manager, Hari Singh, about her relationship with Viveik. Was it over? "It's too personal for me to talk about. Relationships and weddings are personal, and I don't want to comment on it. What stars do in their personal lives is their own concern." Ash and Viveik were unavailable for comment.

ALAG-ALAG: Though Ash and Viveik were both in the city during Zayed Khan's wedding, Viveik attended the sangeet on Nov 19 alone, while Ash attended the reception on Nov 20 with her mum. Of course, the official line was that Viveik was busy promoting his film Home Delivery.