Veteran actress Shabana Azmi, in an interview with Twinkle Khanna for her brand Tweak India, opened up about the difficulties she faced when she wanted to marry lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar.

Javed Akhtar was then married to Honey Irani and had two children-son Farhan, who is a filmmaker-writer-actor, and daughter Zoya, who is also a filmmaker.

Speaking of the resistance she faced from her parents – late renowned poet and writer Kaifi Azmi and late actress Shaukat Kaifi – Shabana Azmi told Twinkle Khanna: “He was a married man, he had children, it was really tough. And that’s why I feel that people shouldn’t speculate. It’s difficult enough for the people involved and then just for gossip’s sake.”

” And obviously, people are going to say, ‘You call yourself a feminist and then how have you got yourself in this situation?’ At that time, I did have a choice,” he said.

She added: “I could explain my point of view, which would justify the action I had taken, but I felt if I did that, it would lead to more speculation, so I decided to go quiet. In time people will come to know, and that is exactly what happened. Now of this, the real good thing that happened, and I give Honey Irani a lot of credit for it, because through it all, she never poisoned the children’s minds against me.”

“She would have been justified… But she never, never did that. In fact, she sent the children with us to London when they were really young, and that became a bonding, and it’s to her credit, and Javed’s credit, and my credit that we have such a healthy relationship with Zoya and Farhan,” Azmi said.

Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar got married on Dec 9 in 1984.