'Marry your best friend'

Express Tribune

2 days ago

In a world of swipe-right love and viral divorces, leave it to the ever-wise and ever-real Nadia Jamil to remind us what enduring romance actually looks like. On Friday, the actor, activist, and all-around icon dropped a heartfelt post on X (formerly Twitter) that read like a Bollywood screenplay, but with more soul, fewer dance numbers, and a whole lot of wisdom.
"We were 14 and 15," she began, immediately pulling readers into a teenage love story that almost didn't survive family disapproval, long-distance years, and even a global pandemic. She paints the early contrast: she, an "emotional romantic artist" from a liberal home; he, a "stoic finance whizz kid" from a conservative background. All parents were against it. But love had other plans.
Nadia waited to marry her husband for fifteen years, longer than most celebrity marriages. When the two finally tied the knot, their wedding marked the start of a relationship built on resilience, shared experiences, and gradual growth.
"The marriage in itself is such a story," she wrote. "It's had its ups and its downs. We are both very strong personalities, but we both held on."
Nadia, in her trademark mix of honesty and grace, doesn't shy away from the hard bits. She talks about the distance that crept in when she moved to Cambridge with the kids and he stayed in Lahore to care for family. She shares how their bond was tested by cancer, grief, financial loss, and parenting across continents. But also how those very battles made them grow together.
According to Nadia, the secret is not just love but respect; it's knowing when to hold space for each other. It's flexibility, emotional growth, and the quiet power of honouring your partner's evolution.
And yes, there's a happy ending (and a new beginning): their eldest son is now all set to get married, and Nadia is officially a mother-in-law now, to a "fantastic young woman," she beamed.
As she coaches other couples now, Nadia sees echoes of her own story in theirs. And her biggest piece of advice is to marry your best friend, the one who grows with you, the one who learns with you, the one who stays, especially when things get hard.