Pooja Bedi quit Bollywood due to husband’s conservative Muslim family: ‘At 32, I was left with a divorce, no alimony’

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She said, “In the spirit of giving everything my 100 per cent, I was actually getting married. My ex-husband Farhan came from a very conservative Muslim family, and there was no way that the bahu (daughter-in-law) of their family was going to be a sexy actress. There was a lot of debate and discussion, and also the two families were already not in favour of us getting married. I didn’t want my family to be filled with conflict, so I left and decided to do something else.”

Even though Farthan and Pooja fought all odds to get married and later raised two children, the couple decided to go their separate ways in 2003, after 9 years of marriage. The divorce also came around what can be described as the toughest phase of Pooja’s life, where she lost multiple family members during a very short period of time. She talked about that particular phase and said that she, in fact, looked up at the skies and asked God to take it slightly easy on her.

“When I was around 27 years old, the first tragedy struck. My grandmother passed away due to cancer, my dog died, and the man who raised me from my childhood, since I was 6 months old, passed away. My mother passed away in a landslide, and my brother committed suicide. In the middle of that, my marriage broke, and I also had two children. I mean, I got divorced with no alimony at the end of it. I was 32 years old and absolutely terrified,” said Pooja.

Pooja Bedi with husband Farhan. (Photo: Express Archive)

She continued and said, “Every 6 months there was somebody dramatic leaving my life and the planet. I just looked up at the universe and said, ‘Please, can you take it a little easy on me?’ I started writing columns around the same time, and then one thing led to another, and within one year I was driving the same Mercedes as my husband. There was no malice between us or anger. I helped him build his business from the ground up, and still I got nothing for it; I had to stomach that. I could have stayed or fought for my piece, but I didn’t want to do that. It was time to move forward, and I did.”

She concluded by saying that “just because you were happy with someone for 12 years doesn’t mean that you have to be miserable with them for the next 50.” You have to let go.”