Veteran actress Zarina Wahab recently opened up about her interfaith marriage with Aditya Pancholi and the latter’s alleged extramarital affairs, claiming that they never bothered her.
“People think I am very stressed. They simply assume that she must be unhappy because Aditya is seeing this and that girl. Nobody says, ‘Yeh ladki dekh rahi hai inko (the girl is seeing him)’,” Zarina said during an interaction with journalist Nayandeep Rakshit, adding that it is wrong to blame the man alone.
“That’s wrong. This is all a phase which comes and goes. I never take these phases seriously as I know he will never get serious with anyone else as he loves me a lot,” the 65-year-old actress continued.
Zarina said that she did not care what Aditya was doing outside as long as he was an ‘excellent’ husband and father at home.
“I used to feel a little bad when I used to read affair rumours, but then I also laughed at them. I don’t care what he does outside, but when he enters the house, he is an excellent father and husband. And that’s all that matters to me. I would have felt bad if only he brought his affairs home,” she said.
Addressing the psychological impact of the rumours on her, Zarina said, “A lot of men have affairs and still run a family. If I start taking these things too seriously and start fighting over it then I will suffer. I don’t want to suffer, I love myself.”
Zarina recounted that she had married Aditya 15 days after they met for the first time on the set of a film.
“We got married within 15-20 days of meeting each other. We were working on Nari Hari film. This was the time I met him. He was a very good-looking boy. He had a scene to shoot, where he had to cry. He started to cry and didn’t stop at all. We even had to stop the shooting for that day. We sat in the same car when I held his hand and told him ‘don’t cry’. At that time, he held my hand tighter and within 15 days we got married. Everybody said, she has married such a good-looking man, he will leave her in a week. And look, it's been 38 years,” she recounted.
Zarina also clarified that she never walked out of her marriage with Aditya despite his alleged infidelity not because she was in any way dependent on him but because the thought had never occurred to her. “I am very independent. Even If I had to live alone, I have money and properties in my name, but in reality I never thought of leaving him. We never discussed this,” she said.
During the interaction, Zarina also addressed her son Sooraj Pancholi’s relationship with the late actress Jiah Khan. Sooraj was arrested in June 2013 in connection with Jiah Khan’s suicide.
“It was an extremely difficult time for the whole family. He was given a clean chit after 10 years,” she said, adding that it still pains her to speak about the incident.
Known for her roles in films like My Name Is Khan (2009), Agneepath (2012), Street Dancer (3D) and Devara: Part 1 (2024), Zarina tied the knot with Aditya Pancholi in 1986. They have a son, Sooraj Pancholi and a daughter, Sana Pancholi.
The 59-year-old actor-producer was rumoured to be in extramarital relationships with Bollywood celebrities, including Kangana Ranaut and Pooja Bedi.