In 2003, she was honored as the "Woman of the Year", along with Raveena Tandon, Anoushka Shankar and Ritu Beri, on International Women's Day for social service.

Pillai's mother, Durr-e-shahwar Dhanrajgir, was the daughter of Maharaja Narsinghraj Dhanrajgir Gyan Bahadur, a Hindu and one of the top noblemen of Hyderabad state, by his consort Zubeida, who hailed from a family of Muslim royals and had acted in the first Indian sound film Alam Ara (1931).

She is also the great granddaughter of India's first female film director, Fatima Begum and happens to be the great niece of Sultana, one of the earliest film actresses from India who was the elder sister of her grandmother Zubeida.

[7] After the divorce became official in 2008 and details of the settlement were published by the tabloid MiD DAY,[8] the broadsheet newspaper The Telegraph criticised Pillai for her materialism and her conduct in relation to Dutt.

[7] She has filed a case against Paes and his father alleging domestic violence in June 2014 at a local metropolitan court.