Pooja Bedi on leaving the marriage without child support: “I had nothing when I left, in two years I drove the same Mercedes as my ex-husband”

When actress Pooja Bedi left her marriage, she worried about her future, her career and her financial situation, which changed for the better in just two years as she found incredible amounts of strength and stability. In a throwback interview that has now surfaced online, Bedi talks about how her life changed after she decided to separate from her husband Farhan Furniturewala. The duo married in 1994 and divorced in 2003.

In an interview with Doordarshan Sahyadri, Bedi was asked how she built her life after the breakup, particularly after leaving the marriage with no alimony from her ex-husband. Bedi, a mother of two including actress Alaya F, said it was the only choice she had and she went with her gut.

“Where there is a will, there’s a way. I know that I don’t want to get married, that’s for sure, now I have to find solutions. There are many problems, the man thinks you are the perfect wife, why should I let you go, but I said, “Hello!” “This is not a perfect marriage, and maybe you are not a good husband, I want to go.” He said no if i give you money you will surely go which i don’t want. I was stuck because I just didn’t want to be in this marriage.

“Even the court systems were different back then, the laws were different, the women’s rights movement wasn’t as active as it is today. So I asked myself what I want – if I want to go to court and fight him and ask for money. Because it’s not that I gave up my career for him, I also made his career with him. Furniturewala was founded by us, we brought it to life together. Production, delivery, marketing, customer care, I would do it with him. I was part of his business, but not legally. I had built it too with hard work but legally my name wasn’t there so what should I do? I thought if I go to court and fight this, there will be resentment and the children will suffer too.”

The actress said she realized the situation called for the two to remain best friends for the sake of their children, but that there was the possibility of an uncertain future. She said, “Unhone mujhe bohot daraya (he scared me a lot) that I only know the film industry, which has also changed a lot, younger actresses have come and I have children, so who is going to cast me in films?” How will i survive I got more tense.

“Of course it’s difficult, it’s not easy. My mother passed away and left me a small amount of money as an inheritance. At 18 I started from scratch and became successful, so I had the will to do it again. So what if I’m divorced, have two kids, want to be happy and the universe will definitely help me and I’m gone.”

Pooja Bedi said she then started writing weekly columns for which she would earn Rs 16,000 a month and was happy. That column got her an offer to host a talk show, and like a domino effect, her transformation began.

“Then a modeling contract came about, then I became a brand ambassador and started organizing events. Within a year and a half I was driving the same Mercedes as my husband. Within two years he called me asking for a loan as he wanted to expand his business,” she added.