How Javed Akhtar-Honey Irani’s Separation Influenced Farhan Akhtar’s Divorce

In a recent interview with Faye D'Souza, Farhan Akhtar reflected on the various challenges that he faced while processing his parents’ separation. Born on 9th January 1974,  he was just 11 years old when Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani got divorced. He shared his regret at not being able to prevent his own children, Shakya and Akira, from feeling the same pain he did, despite his best efforts. Farhan and his ex-wife Adhuna Bhabani got divorced in 2017, after 15 years of being together. Read to know more. 

Farhan’s Relationship With His Dad, Javed Akhtar

Farhan opened up about how his bond with his father Javed Akhtar changed after he divorced his mother and got married to Shabana Azmi. He shared “Back then, it wasn’t common for parents to be divorced. But because of who my parents were, it was public knowledge. If someone wanted to hit you below the belt in school during a fight, they would say, ‘But your father left your mother’. And it would hurt. So apart from the fact that you were sad it happened, it would make you angry that it could be used against you.”

"There was a phase when I was angry with him, I felt betrayed by him. There were all those very normal emotions that I did go through as a child growing up. It took time to go back to normal with my dad. Shabana played a big part in creating that normalcy." he further added. 

Farhan Akhtar had mixed feelings about ending his first marriage.

Farhan shared that he was somewhat reluctant to end his marriage with Adhuna because he was very concerned about how it would impact his kids. “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 know what it felt like,” he shared. Farhan also explained that it was not easy for him to end his marriage, considering the fact that he had witnessed his own parents’ separation when he was a kid. 

How Farhan Informed His Kids About The Divorce?

Farhan and Adhuna planned to break the news to their kids together. He explained, “I felt that it came to a place where Adhuna and I spoke to them openly and honestly and explained 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. This is something between two grown-up people, who as friends decided that this is something that they want to do."

How Farhan’s Childhood Is Affecting His Present

 "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 entirely 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." shared Farhan. 

Farhan married Shibani Dandekar in 2022. Shakya and Akira live with their mom, however, Farhan can meet them without any restrictions. What do you think about that?