Cannes is not a new platform for Aishwarya Rai. She had been a regular visitor at the film festival since 2002 when the big budget bollywood film Devdas was screened at the festival.

In 2003 Aishwarya was at the Cannes as a member of the jury. This year she is there to promote Provoked which was screened on Thursday and Friday, with another screening scheduled for Monday.

Directed by Jag Mundhra, Provoked is the true story of a 23 year old Punjabi woman named Kiranjit Ahluwalia, who having lost both her parents by the age of 16, was persuaded by her brothers to give up her law studies and marry London based Deepak Ahluwalia only to be the vitim of incessant domestic voilence.

When someone asked Ash if she had been through any such experience, the most beautiful woman in the world stunned everyone by saying, 'Yes'.

It is a well-known fact that Ash was dating bollywood bad boy Salman Khan a few years back. Salman and Ash shared a strange relationship, a love-hate relation that was the talk of the town. Sallu was known to be extremely possessive of his then lady love Ash.

Friends and relatives of Ash too revealed that many a times he would physically assault her. However one fine day when things went overboard and Ash could no longer deal with it anymore, she walked out on him.

However Ash since then has never spoken about the pain, guilt or anger of her past volatile relationship or the reasons for her sticking it out so long.

But at Cannes when somebody further enquired the details of the same and Ash apparently replied, "Wait for my biography."