Mandana added that even she got married at the age of 27. She said, “We were dating each other for two and a half years and then got engaged. We were engaged for 7-8 months and then got married, which was court marriage. We lived together for eight months, and then it was just not good. We were then separated for four years. We got divorced recently in 2021. He pretended as though I didn’t even exist.”
Adding further, Mandana told Azma, “In these four years of separation, he slept with whoever I knew.” Out of curiousity, Azma asked if he even slept with her friends. To which, Mandana said, “I don’t have friends.” She further asked Mandana the reason behind why he didn’t want to give divorce to her. Mandana said that it’s a long story, which is a part of my secret because no one knows in public. He just did not want to give me divorce.”
Azma questioned Mandana about the reaction of her ex-husband’s family to the news of them parting ways. Mandana said that when she was shooting, her then boyfriend’s mother would send her doughnuts, flowers and would go for coffee, shopping. spa and parties together and showed that she was quite open minded. “Later, she started telling me ‘You can’t talk to that girl, she’s a wh**e because she is single’ and now you are getting married. Why are you talking to these people? If I went anywhere alone, she made sure that she called everyone and checked if I was there. They changed and suddenly they were like, ‘salwar kameez pehno, mandir ke saamne baitho’.”
Mandana said over a period of time, she realised that it doesn’t matter who the family is or who the friends are or what the situation is, if your partner doesn’t support you then nobody will. Ali Merchant, who is Sara Khan’s ex husband, was seated beside Mandana and agreed to this statement made by her.
To know more from the Lock Upp jail, keep reading this space.