Zayed Khan on being there for sister Sussanne during divorce with Hrithik Roshan, her relationship with Arsalan: ‘He is younger than me, but…'

Indian Express

5 hours ago

Once a familiar face in early 2000s Bollywood, Zayed Khan stepped away from the spotlight without much explanation. Now, in a candid and emotional conversation with YouTuber Siddharth Kannan, the actor has finally opened up about his career hiatus, personal struggles, and the strong family bonds that have grounded him throughout. Zayed spoke with honesty about the emotional and financial challenges his family faced, as well as the close relationship he shares with his sisters, Sussanne Khan, ex-wife of actor Hrithik Roshan, and Farah Khan Ali, former wife of DJ Aqeel. When asked if he supported his siblings through their respective separations, Zayed responded:
'It's pretty evident. I've always been there for them. But we are an extremely conservative family with an extremely modern viewpoint of how things can be. Everything does not have to be black and white, number one. What is the most important thing? You want to see the person happy. Why be in anything if you're going to be unhappy about it? What's it going to take for everybody to be happy? You want to give it a shot? Give it a shot. Doesn't work out? Okay. Is this where you want to go? We are with you. My parents have always been the kind, they just look in your eyes and say, 'This is what you want? You know the realities, this is what you want?' If you have it in your eyes, sincerely, 'Yes, this is what I want'. Done. We are with you. Your happiness is most important.'
On whether they consult each other while making major decisions, Zayed emphasized the deep emotional intuition shared within the family: 'See, we are a pack, we're like a clan. I don't even have to know something is wrong with my sister to call her up and say, 'What happened? Something is not right.' I just know. I have that kind of connection with my sisters. You know what? That's what a modern family is all about, man, right now. Look at where you're living. You're not living in Dalhousie, for heaven's sake. You're living in Mumbai. Look at the people that you're interacting with, the kind of jobs that you're doing—this and that. I mean, there are so many variables at play right now. So many variables. So when there's something emotional, which is the highest point, yes, there are sounding boards. We all are each others sounding boards. We love to say what other people can't. Simple as that. Your best friend also won't be able to say it. Your brother, your sister will say it. Your father, your mother will say it. And it's the ugly truth. And hear it. Okay, man, now you know. Now you're making a known decision. You're making an informed decision.'
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That honesty, he says, can sometimes be difficult to hear. Recalling a tough moment, he shared: 'They said to me that I haven't even given 20% to my career,' he admitted, adding how he responded, 'That y'all have too many opinions. I mean, I have to say, when we're at the dining table, everybody has a very strong personality. So, you know, to get across, 'I'm right, I'm the best, I know it all', it's a tough battle between everybody.' Zayed also spoke about how both Sussanne and Farah have maintained amicable relationships with their ex-partners, Hrithik Roshan and DJ Aqeel, respectively. According to him, it all comes down to shared values and emotional maturity:
'If you take everything else out of the equation, what's the most important thing that you have with your partner? Trust. Understanding. And compatibility, in some sort of way. If you haven't taken that and put it on a higher pedestal than everything else, then there's something just blatantly wrong. I mean, did you get married for fame? Did you get married for money? If you got married for all of these things, then you're bound to have massive, massive problems, especially at the time of a divorce. But if you met your soulmate, right? You married your soulmate. Okay. And things went on. Water went under the bridge. Your soulmate is still there.' He continued: 'I don't know about everybody else. But for us, we are highly evolved in understanding such situations. And quite honestly, I don't care what anybody else thinks. We are. We are happy that everybody is happy. We were a good family. We have children to look forward to. We've got so many better things to look forward to than all this'
When asked about Sussanne's current partner, Arsalan, Zayed had only positive things to say: 'He's a cool kid, man. I think he's a sweetheart guy. He's full of life and energy. He's always smiling and happy, and he wants to do fun things. Yeah, man. He's good. Of course, he's younger to me, but he's good.' Zayed has previously revealed that his next film, TFTNW (The Film That Never Was) will be coming soon on Jio Cinema and has special cameos from various stars.