Happy Birthday Shilpa Shetty: Rare Pictures and Lesser Known Facts of Mrs Kundra

Actress Shilpa Shetty, one of the most popular actresses of her time, turns 40 on 8 June and is still beautiful and glamorous.

The tall and pretty lady is now a proud mother of a baby boy Viaan from her marriage with Raj Kundra. The British realty show "Big Brother 5" winner has always captured hearts on and off screen. After her long acting career, she has now taken the position of judge in many reality shows, including 'Nach Baliye'. She has also hosted TV reality show 'Bigg Boss'.

On her birthday, let's take a look at some lesser-known facts of the beautiful actress.

• Shilpa Shetty is said to have had a serious relationship with Akshay Kumar, which broke up and created controversies. However, the actress has been put in an awkward situation as her ex-lover and her husband Raj Kundra share the same birth date – 9 September.

• Richard Gere kissing Shilpa not only became a big controversy involving the actress, but it also created legal problems for her. In April 2006, a Madurai court issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against the Mangalore-born actress for "posing in an obscene manner" in the photographs published by a Tamil newspaper.

• Shilpa Shetty is scared of driving and, thus, she has a driver along with her always.

• Since her debut movie "Baazigar" in 1993, the actress has appeared in nearly 40 films in other languages (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada). She made her debut as the leading actress in "Aag" in 1994.
• Shilpa Shetty was on the cover of the first issue of 'OK' magazine to be sold in India.