By Minahil Makhdoom
There was a time when most of the interviews given by Pakistani celebrities were confided to their professional lives. Now things have changed so much. Many celebrities consider their fans an extension of themselves and therefore do not shy away from talking about their personal matters. Getting divorced is not easy for anyone, ending a relationship you vowed to stay in for the rest of your life is a traumatic experience for every human being. There are many Pakistani celebrities who got divorced but all of them did not have the courage to talk about that phase of their lives in interviews. There are others who have been generous enough to talk about this painful period of their life after they healed. There are a few of those celebrities as well who talked about their divorce because they were married to fellow celebrities and they simply wanted to tell their side of the story.
Affan Waheed
Affan Waheed needs absolutely no introduction, he has played the leading role in some of the most popular Pakistani dramas which have aired recently. While talking about his personality and his divorce he was quite open even though this was the most tormenting period of his life. When asked about his marriage, Affan replied that he was no longer married. Everyone saw the pictures of Affan’s marriage but no one knew before this that he was divorced.
Affan shared that the divorce was extremely painful and he went into severe depression after it. His depression was so severe that he even lost so much of his hair and did not work for many months.
Zara Noor Abbas
Zara Noor Abbas has only talked about her divorce but she did so somewhat candidly and in order to give the younger generation a lesson. Zara confessed in one of the Ted Talks that her first marriage was for all the wrong reasons. The only reason she got married was that she wanted to escape and she wanted freedom. After being married for a few years, she realized that the basis of this marriage was wrong and that is when she decided to come back to Pakistan to her parents. Zara Noor Abbas said that this was the best decision she had ever made in her life. She is now living a life that makes her happy and is also happily married.
Fakhar-e-Alam
Fakhar-e-Alam has been through the difficult process of divorce not once but twice. He is the kind of celebrity who does not talk about his personal life too often. In one of the shows, when he was asked about his divorces, he was really upfront about it and he said that it was all in the hands of Allah. He even reminded Nadia Khan that she had also gone through a divorce therefore she should understand more than anyone else that there is no specific reason for it. He also talked about the taboo attached to divorce especially with reference to women and took full responsibility for the failure of his marriage.
Sanam Saeed
Sanam Saeed got married to her childhood friend and her marriage made headlines. She talked openly and honestly about her divorce on Samina Peerzada’s talk show. She told in detail how different circumstances led to the divorce and she also took responsibility for it. She admitted that she made a wrong decision because she never settled into life in Dubai since she was so used to being busy with her work all the time.
Apart from that, Sanam Saeed’s mother also fell severely ill and she felt she needed to in Karachi with her mother. That is how Sanam decided to end her marriage and she is really sorry that she put her husband through all this. Sanam admits she made a poor decision but through this experience, she learned what she actually wanted from life.
Shamoon Abbasi
Shamoon Abbasi got divorced thrice. He got married to Javeria Abbasi and his second marriage was with Humaima Malick. The first two times in his opinion he needed a non-celebrity wife since the celebrity wives do not have the time or commitment needed to keep a marriage intact. In one of his interviews, he also called Humaima Malick irresponsible and his first wife confused. He got married the third time to Javeria Randhawa who was not a celebrity yet even that marriage did not last.
Ever since his third marriage ended in a divorce, Shamoon does not talk about marriages in interviews. He has however talked about in full detail about his first two marriages in different interviews. He also shared that because he goes out of his way for the people he loves, he expects the same in return but usually he does not get what he expects.
Salma Hassan
The news of Salma Hassan and Azfar Ali’s divorce was shocking for everyone since the viewers had watched them on-screen so many times together. What made this tragic news even more shocking was that Azfar got married to Naveen Waqar, a fellow celebrity soon after divorcing his wife. For the longest time, Salma decided not to talk about her divorce but after going through therapy and getting over the hurt, she talked about her divorce in different interviews. The conversation between Nida and Salma clearly suggests that this was not Azfar’s first affair.
Salma also was really honest when she was asked if Azfar divorced her or she chose to be divorced. She said that Azfar wanted to stay married to her but she knew she chose not to live with him because she felt she could never forgive him while staying married to him.
Shaista Lodhi
Shaista Lodhi was at the peak of her career when she got divorced. Since then, she has barely talked about the reasons behind the divorce until recently. In a talk show, she said that she had no hard feelings and that her ex-husband is a wonderful father. The way Shaista handled the question about her divorce showed her maturity.
Nouman Javaid
Nouman Javaid also went through not one but two difficult divorces. He was married to singer Fariha Pervaiz but their marriage ended in the worst manner possible. Nouman tried to commit suicide because he could not cope with the loss. After a few months, he married actress Jana Malik but that marriage only lasted a few months. When asked during an interview which marriage did he want to salvage more desperately, he replied that he would have done anything to salvage his marriage with Jana Malik since he loved her so much.
It seems like Nouman felt that both his wives did not contribute to the marriage as much as a partner should. He however also said that it is wrong to blame anyone since all such decisions at the end of the day were dependent on your fate and Allah’s will.
Nadia Khan
Nadia Khan usually does not talk about her divorce in talk shows but when Farah put forward that question, she gave a reply which gave an insight into her own feelings about her experience. Nadia thinks that it is not alright to put up with anything that is unfair just to keep the relationship intact. She also shared that she got a divorce only after giving her marriage a fair chance for more than 10 years.
In another video, Nadia Khan implied that her husband was having an affair with one of her friends. She did not say that directly but the advice she gave married girls suggested this was something she experienced herself.
Sanam Baloch
Sanam Baloch has never openly talked about what caused her divorce but she in a way told her viewers why her marriage with Abdullah Farhatullah did not work out. Everything that Sanam said suggested that Abdullah wasn’t as honest in their relationship as she had expected him to be. But at the same time she said that if he ever needed her, despite the divorce, she will be there for him. Similarly, she said that she knew that if she ever needed Abdullah, he will be by her side.
Shahroz Sabzwari
Shahroz Sabzwari and Syra Yusef’s divorce came as a shock to their fans. While Syra Yusef silently sat back and decided not to talk about the divorce. Shahroz on the other hand made two different videos in which he talked about the separation, their divorce, and most importantly Sadaf Kanwal’s relationship with him. This had to be the most talked-about celebrity divorce since Shahroz and Sadaf got married a few months after his divorce with Syra.
Noor Bukhari
Noor Bukhari has gone through many divorces unfortunately but her most public divorce was with celebrity husband Wali Hamid. Noor talked about her divorce in a talk show. She clearly stated that infidelity was the reason why she decided to take khula from Wali. She said that she could not live with a man who kept on cheating on her.
Juggun Kazim
Juggun Kazim has talked about her first marriage and how it ended more than once. Juggun was in an abusive marriage for many years until she finally decided she needed to be out of this relationship. It took a lot of family support and time for Juggun to eventually get a divorce from a man who was constantly threatening her and abusing her verbally and physically.
Bushra Ansari
Bushra Ansari was divorced many years back but she decided not to share this part of her personal life with people. When the rumors of Bushra Ansari’s second marriage were ripe, she decided to talk about her divorce but she did not want to go into the detail of why it happened. She said that the reason why she did not share this development with the public was that she did not want them to be heartbroken.
Samina Ahmad
Samina Ahmad is another famous Pakistani actor, director, and producer who was divorced when she was really young. She was recently in the news after she got married to Manzar Sehbai. In an interview with Samina Peerzada for the first time, Samina Ahmad shared how her relationship with her first husband came to an end.
Maya Khan
Maya Khan also talked the first time about her divorce while she was being interviewed by Shaista Lodhi. While giving the interview she made it pretty clear that although most often working women are blamed for the failure of marriages, they indeed do so much to salvage relationships. Maya Khan also talked about what her divorce taught her and how she was going to go forward with life.
It definitely takes a lot of courage to talk about something so personal and it is quite evident that all these celebrities talked about their divorce once they were ready to talk about it.
