This Bollywood icon cancelled her grand wedding to billionaire, uninvited 2,000 guests, only to marry him at home

The couple were reportedly first introduced by filmmaker Rakesh Roshan before they eventually fell in love and tied the knot.

Despite being one of the biggest actors of the 1990s, Juhi Chawla has largely kept her personal life away from the limelight. While fans have always been curious about her marriage to billionaire industrialist and Mehta Group chairman Jay Mehta, the actor has rarely spoken about her relationship or married life. However, on a few occasions, Juhi has opened up about her wedding and shared some interesting anecdotes about her life with Jay.

Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta tied the knot in 1995.

When Juhi Chawla doubted her marriage would end her career

As per reports, Juhi and Jay were introduced by filmmaker Rakesh Roshan, and they eventually fell in love and tied the knot. In 2024, at an event hosted by the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Juhi had opened up about her wedding and revealed that she was initially supposed to have a grand ceremony with around 2,000 guests. However, having lost her mother a year earlier, the actor admitted that she was going through emotional turmoil and wanted to cancel the big-fat wedding.

During the interaction, Juhi also admitted that she was worried that getting married would mark the end of her career. Amid all these emotions, the idea of a big wedding became overwhelming for her. She said, “I was shooting for some of the really big films of my career, and I was supposed to get married. My mother had just passed a year ago. When the marriage date was coming close, I was thinking my mother is gone, whom I loved the most, and now my career will also go away. I didn’t know how to be happy about it. So, I broke down one day, and I told my mother-in-law.”

As per a report in the Times Of India, The Mehta Group business empire that he chairs is valued at over ₹17,500 crore ($2.1 billion).

Juhi's mother-in-law cancelled the big wedding

While it may have been difficult for many families to accept, Jay Mehta’s mother and Juhi’s mother-in-law prioritised her emotions over the elaborate wedding plans. Juhi shared that despite invitations having been sent out to around 2,000 guests, the wedding was called off in its original form and the couple instead got married at home in a quiet ceremony attended only by family and close friends.

Sharing the same, she said, “My mother-in-law said, ‘It’s okay.’ Can you imagine your mother-in-law doing it for you? Invitations had gone out to maybe 2000 people. She said, 'Abhi nahi horahi hai (It's not happening now)'. She convinced the family to not have the big wedding, and I got married, but it was at home with just the family and closest friends. So with just 80-90-100 people, the wedding was done. Imagine your mother-in-law cancelling those invitations which had gone out all over the world.”

The couple got married in 1995. They became parents to two children, daughter Jhanvi and son Arjun.

Jay once sent Juhi a truck full of roses

Jay Mehta is a romantic at heart and Juhi once spoke about his grand romantic gestures during their courtship that proved the same.

During her appearance on Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa, Juhi recalled how Jay used to write letters to her every day before their marriage and also once sent her a truck full of red roses. She said, “Before marriage, Jay used to write letters to me every day. After marriage, all of that stopped. In those days, we used to send letters and cards to each other, which has now turned into emails and WhatsApp messages. Jay and I met at a dinner, and then he started hovering around me. Once, on my birthday, he sent me a truck full of red roses. And I took a year to say ‘yes’ to him.”