Farhan Akhtar reflects on childhood divorce and its influence on his marriage with Adhuna Bhabani

Farhan Akhtar recently opened up about the emotional challenges he faced growing up with divorced parents and how those experiences have influenced his own relationships. In an interview with Faye D'Souza, Farhan Akhtar discussed the impact of his father Javed Akhtar's divorce from Honey Irani, which occurred when he was a child, and how it affected his perspective on his own separation from ex-wife Adhuna Bhabani.

Farhan Akhtar reflected on the difficulties of processing his parents' divorce and how it shaped his approach to his own marriage. He expressed that the experience was tough, noting, "It was difficult. A certain aspect of it was of course that I had been through having divorced parents when I was a kid. I know what it felt like and there was a huge part of me that was like I cannot do this to my own kids. I felt that it came to a place that if Adhuna and myself spoke to them openly and honestly, and explain to them why we are taking this kind of step, that it doesn't have anything to do with them. It’s not because of them, it’s not because of anything they did, they said, or because they are here." He emphasized the importance of being honest with his daughters, Shakya and Akira, about the reasons behind the separation, assuring them that it was not their fault.

He further elaborated, "This is something between two grown up people, who as friends decided that this is something that they want to do. That’s the best we could do, but it’s something that I am going to have to live with for the rest of my life. It’s never going to entire go away thinking about ‘Did they deserve this?’. It’s going to keep coming up. That’s something I guess I’ll just have to live with. The fact that it had happened to me as a kid played a huge role in how I feel about it now."

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Farhan Akhtar and Adhuna Bhabani announced their separation in 2016 after 15 years of marriage. Farhan later married Shibani Dandekar in 2022. Javed Akhtar, Farhan's father, was previously married to former child actress and writer Honey Irani. Their marriage, which began in 1972, ended in divorce in 1985. Javed Akhtar subsequently married Shabana Azmi in 1984.

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On the professional front, Farhan Akhtar is gearing up to direct Don 3, featuring Ranveer Singh and Kiara Advani.