{"id":248882,"date":"2026-01-24T02:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T02:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/248882\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T02:47:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T02:47:08","slug":"nivi-summer-on-life-after-shortland-street-heartbreak-and-hollywood-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/248882\/","title":{"rendered":"Nivi Summer on life after Shortland Street, heartbreak and Hollywood dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was still heartbreak, though. Then when Nivi was moving house, tragedy struck.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy boys and I were just arriving at our new place when my darling dog took herself for a walk,\u201d Nivi says of her beloved Chihuahua Nina. \u201cShe was 18 years old, partially sighted and was run over by a car. I was heartbroken.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NiviNivi Summer is a proud single mother. Photo \/ Emily Chalk<\/p>\n

It was the former Bollywood star\u2019s sons who got her through.<\/p>\n

Nivi explains, \u201cMy boys are the two best things that have ever happened to me. I am a proud single mother<\/a> \u2212 an empowered, independent woman who doesn\u2019t rely on anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of her youngest son, Nivi says, \u201cJax is a force to be reckoned with. He\u2019s so happy and funny. He has his mama\u2019s genes as he\u2019s already showing signs of being an entertainer, and he does amazing Indian and British accents.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NiviNivi says her boys are the two best things that have ever happened to her. Photo \/ Emily Chalk<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Jed is a model big brother and an aspiring DJ.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe took to it after I started learning \u2013 he is also a real help to me around the house,\u201d says Nivi. Every morning, Jed makes his mum a coffee and he loves to cook!<\/p>\n

As well as raising two beautiful boys, Nivi has bought two businesses since leaving Shorty<\/a>. She owns a cleaning products company called Extreme Stain Remover and has also purchased a beauty salon in \u014crewa, just north of Auckland.<\/p>\n

\"NiviNivi has bought two businesses while raising her two beautiful boys. Photo \/ Emily Chalk<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I bought Sun Lounge, it was just a tanning salon with LED light therapy, but we\u2019re going to start doing hair removal and injectables,\u201d explains Nivi, who plans to change the name to Summer Glow Beauty.<\/p>\n

Asked if she\u2019ll ever consider getting the injectables for herself, the 43-year-old is frank.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have thought about it as I understand prevention is better than cure with wrinkles,\u201d she says. \u201cBut as an actor, I have concerns about how that might change my face because my frowns and forehead lines are so important for my work.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI also don\u2019t feel like I need it as I\u2019m lucky not to have many wrinkles. Even though I\u2019m not getting any younger, I\u2019m not ageing very fast, which could be to do with my race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given that Nivi looks so youthful, it\u2019s no surprise this determined star has \u201cmaking it in Los Angeles\u201d on her radar.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Ridge is currently streaming on Neon. Photo \/ Woman’s Day<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking ahead, I\u2019m 100% manifesting Hollywood,\u201d she enthuses. \u201cWhen I was ready to start acting again after being a fulltime mum, I manifested getting an international job, then I was cast in The Ridge. I\u2019m hoping it will lead to other things.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, Nivi has her sights set on Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I\u2019ll get there,\u201d she insists. \u201cAs actors, we experience so much rejection and we get so many kicks in the gut, but we must keep picking ourselves up and moving on. One day, everything will click.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ridge streams on Neon. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There was still heartbreak, though. Then when Nivi was moving house, tragedy struck. \u201cMy boys and I were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248883,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[138431,74,95,6632,18920,144901,5770,18089,16834,156,2550,14768,36876,84321,84045,56768,72919,4223,63060,56387,424,1329,111,139,144900,144902,69,90,5502,61492,12508,6115,5411,33397,2737,5424,14625,63439,9348,27275,1316,6123,117184],"class_list":["post-248882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-abusive","tag-after","tag-and","tag-battled","tag-cast","tag-chakraborty","tag-core","tag-dramatic","tag-dreams","tag-entertainment","tag-even","tag-every","tag-explosive","tag-fearless","tag-fierce","tag-glamorous","tag-heartbreak","tag-hollywood","tag-hostage","tag-isnt","tag-life","tag-member","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nivi","tag-nivis","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-partner","tag-played","tag-quite","tag-real","tag-shortland","tag-situation","tag-star","tag-street","tag-summer","tag-surgeon","tag-survived","tag-traffickers","tag-when","tag-while","tag-zara"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}