Neliima Azeem on her divorce when son Shahid Kapoor was 3.5 years old: ‘Pankaj and I never had a home together’

Neliima Azeem talked about her divorce from her first husband, Pankaj Kapur, when their son Shahid Kapoor was just three-and-a-half years old. Neliima said that it was not a major change in ambience for Shahid, as he was born and spent the early years of his life at her parents’ house in Delhi. Pankaj moved to Mumbai even before their son’s birth, to try his luck in the entertainment industry.

“Shahid was born in Delhi, while I was staying with my parents, because Pankaj had already left much earlier. At the time when I had conceived, before we knew, he had already shifted to Bombay and he wanted to try his luck in films and television. I had supported him because I thought he was a very talented young man who deserves to explore his full potential. I was actually taken care of by my parents and my brother throughout my pregnancy. Later also, when Shahid was born, we were with my parents in their home,” she told Bollywood Bubble in an interview.

“Pankaj and I never had a home together. Shahid was used to staying with us there in Delhi. It wasn’t as if he stayed with his father and then he had to shift out. He was in the same surroundings he always was in, from the time he was born. It didn’t make such a huge difference to him but of course, separation and divorce make a difference. He was very young and secondly, he was in the same ambience and family structure as he used to be,” she added.

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Neliima raised Shahid as a single parent after her divorce from Pankaj in 1984. She has another son, Ishaan Khatter, with her ex-husband Rajesh Khattar.

Shahid made his Bollywood debut with Ishq Vishk in 2003 and has since starred in several successful films such as Jab We Met, Kaminey, Udta Punjab, Padmaavat, and Kabir Singh. He will be seen next in the sports drama Jersey, a remake of the Telugu film of the same name, which also stars Pankaj. It is slated for a theatrical release this November.