Gautami Tadimalla (born 2 July 1969) is an Indian actress and politician who has worked mainly in Tamil and Telugu, in addition to Malayalam, Hindi, and Kannada films. She was one of the leading South Indian actresses from 1987 to 1998. She is also a television actress, television host, the founder of Life Again Foundation, and a costume designer. Personal life Gautami was born in Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh to T. R. Seshagiri Rao and Vasundhara Devi. Her father was a pioneering radiation oncologist and her mother was a pathologist and diagnostician. Gautami attended Bishop Cotton Girls' School, Bangalore. Gautami married Sandeep Bhatia, a businessman, in 1998, and the couple have a daughter, Subbulakshmi born in 1999. They later got divorced in 1999. Gautami was in a relationship with actor Kamal Haasan from 2004 till 2016. In 2016, Gautami had announced on her blog that she had ended her relationship with him. Gautami wrote on her blog: "It is heartbreaking for me to have to say today that I and Mr. Haasan are no longer together. After almost 13 years together, it has been one of the most devastating decisions that I have ever had to make in my life". She was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 35, and had recovered later. Film career She was introduced to Tamil film industry through Guru Shishyan (1988), a film that starred Rajinikanth and Prabhu. She was most active in Tamil cinema from 1987 to 1998 and was a tough competitor to the other heroines of her time, Khushbu, Revathy, Amala and Bhanupriya. Gautami went to GITAM University in Visakhapatnam to pursue engineering. Gautami made her debut in Telugu with the film Dayamayudu (1987). that was produced by her cousin. She then appeared in films like Srinivasa Kalyanam with Venkatesh and Bhanupriya. Her notable performances in Malayalam films include His Highness Abdullah (1990) with Mohanlal, Daddy (1992) with Arvind Swami Dhruvam (1993) with Mammootty and Ayalathe Adheham (1993) with Jayaram. Her role in Sukrutham (1994) was penned by the writer M. T. Vasudevan Nair. She has acted also in Kannada films Elu Suttina Kote (1987), Chikkejamanru (1992), Cheluva (1997), and in the Hindi movies, Pyar Hua Chori Chori (1991), Aadmi (1993), Janta Ki Adalat (1994), Trimurti (1995), Dhaal (1997) and Haiwan (1998). Her notable Tamil movies was Apoorva Sagodharargal (1989), Raja Chinna Roja (1989), Panakkaran (1990), Ooru Vittu Ooru Vanthu (1990),