Mala grew up in the West London suburban district of Southall. As a youth, she was a bit of a wild child, sneaking into nightclubs and experimenting with drugs and alcohol. Eventually, Mala matured and began focusing on her studies. After graduating from university, she married her childhood sweetheart, Jai Gupta, in 1992, and the following year, they welcomed their son, Samuel.

In 1995, the young family moved to the United States when Jai took over running his family’s corner store in Chicago. Mala steadily climbed the ranks in her field as an architect, and in 2003, she gave birth to daughter Aaliyah. Becoming increasingly career-oriented strongly affected her once-loving marriage to Jai, and in 2015, they decided to separate. Two months ago, she was offered a senior architect position at the Covington Group in Radcliffe, Kentucky, which she accepted, and she relocated there along with her adult children.

Although life threw her for a loop when Jai moved to town, determined to win her back, Mala remained adamant about not reconciling, even as she entered a short-lived relationship with her boss, Daniel Covington. Jai, meanwhile, moved on with Louise Saunders Lockhart, though Mala found herself drawn to her ex-husband again. Once Aaliyah exposed Louise kissing her ex-husband, Sean Lockhart, Mala and Jai slept together and ultimately realized they still belonged together. Shortly afterward, the two became engaged and remarried in the backyard of Victory Cottage with friends and family present, including longtime family friend Jes Choudhury, who decided to restart her life by moving in with them. Although Mala has not been keen on Samuel developing feelings for Jes—despite Jes seeing Antoine Hall—there may be a reason she is not yet willing to admit.