In the podcast 'Mame kod Lane,' the Croatian actress openly discussed the end of her marriage to Momčilo Otašević, emphasizing that life in a troubled relationship was harder than the divorce itself.
Actress Jelena Perčin shared her candid perspective on her divorce from Montenegrin actor Momčilo Otašević. In the 22nd episode of the podcast "Mame kod Lane," she revealed details about how her family navigated that period and why she believes the time before the split was far more challenging.
Perčin and Otašević married in 2018, and news of their divorce was confirmed in early 2023. Speaking about that time, the actress admitted that the change itself wasn't dramatic for the children, largely due to Otašević's professional commitments.
"The divorce, I think in the sense that it wasn't a big change for us because he wasn't around much; he worked a lot. So in that sense, it wasn't a shock for the kids," Perčin said on the podcast.
The actress emphasized that, in her experience, staying in a bad marriage is far more difficult than going through a divorce. "Honestly, for me, that was much harder," she added. She also explained that she never told the children that their parents were no longer together because they didn't love each other, calling that phrasing something awful.
"I think it's much harder to be in a bad marriage than to go through a divorce. I never said to Lota, and now not to Maša and Jakša: 'Mom and Dad aren't together anymore because they don't love each other'-that's just something horrible to me," she said.
Perčin stresses the importance of normal communication between ex-partners for the sake of the children. She believes it's crucial that kids see their parents can talk without pathological patterns. "It's important that there is communication and that the kids see communication between parents and that it isn't pathological," she conveyed.
She added that children are extremely adaptable but also very good at reading nonverbal cues. If parents can't set aside their anger, she advises avoiding communication in front of the kids for that very reason.
Beyond the divorce, she also spoke about raising her eldest daughter, Lota, whom she has from her first marriage to Kristijan Babić. For her, at 14, providing freedom and the safety of home is more important than strict prohibitions.
"And for me, it's much healthier for her to have that freedom, to come, to introduce me to her boyfriend, to have them at our place, than for them to be in some park in the winter or in some cafés that are far more inappropriate for her age, at 14, because there she's exposed to alcohol, tobacco, and everything," she explained.
Finally, she reflected on motherhood in general, calling it a form of sacrifice. "Some periods in life require a certain sacrifice, and motherhood itself is a kind of sacrifice. Despite its beauty, it is a sacrifice. And your time is never just your time again," Perčin concluded.
