Ahmad Dhani Confirms He Has Divorced Maia Estianty via SMS Since 2006

"According to religious law, I was the one who divorced Maia. In December 2006. So... because, because Maia cheated, I divorced her. So why is this only being revealed after 20 years? Because at that time I didn’t want Al El Dul, who was still small, to know at school that his mother was divorced, that his mother was divorced because ofcheating," said Ahmad Dhani when met in the Kemang area, South Jakarta, Tuesday (05/04/2026).

Dhani mentioned that the threefold divorce he issued via SMS is already valid according to Islamic law. For him, the marriage relationship ended at that moment, so the divorce lawsuit filed by Maia to the Religious Court the following year is merely a legal formality.

He also asked the public to better understand the mechanism of divorce in Islam to avoid misinformation. Dhani felt it was necessary to clarify this because of the many news reports on social media that he believes are inaccurate regarding who actually ended the relationship.

"So, eh, people need to understand that divorce according to religion is valid when a man pronounces three divorces. So I divorced Maia three times in December 2006. I divorced her three times directly via SMS. That’s already, already, many people know about that, right? I divorced her three times directly. Therefore, since there was no hope left, Maia eventually filed for divorce legally," said Ahmad Dhani.

Regarding the status of their children during the incident, Dhani admitted to deliberately hiding the bitter truth for years. He did not want the growth of Al, El, and Dul to be disturbed by news about the reasons for their parents' broken home.

Now, after his three sons have grown up, Dhani feels there is nothing left to hide. He stated that his children also understand the real situation that occurred between him and his ex-wife.

"Maia filed for divorce from me in the Religious Court when I had already pronounced the talak three times. That's it. That's why people need to learn more about religion. After I pronounced the talak three times. Now, this is related to my last post, yes. My last post explains that explicitly Maia lost," emphasized AhmadDhani.

Regarding the final custody decision, Dhani claims that the Supreme Court ultimately favored him. He believes that the delay in the decision until 2013 was a form of the judge's wisdom so that the children could choose to live with him on their own.

"So the whole story is that Maia lost the custody case. Why? Because the final decision was made 6 years after the lawsuit was filed. Well, that’s what I talked about in my last Instagram post," concluded Ahmad Dhani.