This veteran star stayed 12 years in troubled marriage despite husband’s affair, nursed him through illness; his family took every penny

Despite her successful career, Zeenat Aman marriage to Mazhar Khan brought challenges, including infidelity and a long period of caregiving.

Veteran actor Zeenat Aman is an icon, especially among youngsters who are often drawn to the ideas about love, relationships and marriage that she shares on social media. The actor was also a trailblazer in her prime, challenging the conventional image of a Bollywood heroine with her bold roles and unconventional screen presence. Despite being a hugely successful star, Zeenat's personal life was ridden with difficulties, including a troubled marriage to late actor Mazhar Khan.

'The first year after marriage, I realised I had made a mistake'

Zeenat Aman has openly spoken about her troubled marriage with husband and late actor Mazhar Khan.

In a 1999 interaction with Simi Garewal, the actor spoke at length about her troubled marriage with Mazhar Khan and how she stayed in the relationship for 12 years despite knowing about her husband's infidelity.

She said, “The first year after marriage, I realised I had made a mistake but since I had made the decision and done it against everybody’s will, I decided to live by it and make it work. I’m not necessarily saying that it was the best thing for him either. It was a difficult time since the first year because I was pregnant with my first child and Mazhar was not there. There was a big article in Stardust magazine at that time about the woman that Mazhar was seeing. It’s reality.”

Zeenat stayed in marriage for 12 years, cared for her grievously ill husband

Zeenat decided to stay in the marriage to take care of him. She spent five years battling for his health and his life and later described those as some of the “very difficult years” of her life.

Zeenat shared that she didn't just stay in the marriage; she gave it her all and tried “everything under the sun” to save her husband. She revealed that during that time, she was in and out of every hospital in Mumbai, learned to give injections and do dressings, and even travelled overseas to find doctors for her husband's treatment.

She also revealed that Mazhar lived with a medical bag outside his body for 18 months and that she learned how to change it. However, by the time her husband's health problem was resolved, years of caregiving had taken a toll on her. Zeenat said she was very close to a nervous breakdown.

Left marriage after husband got addicted to prescription drugs

Zeenat's efforts eventually helped Mazhar recover from his health problems, but another difficult phase followed. He became addicted to prescription drugs and painkillers, which severely affected his health and eventually his kidneys.

Seeing her husband stop helping himself and continue harming his health ultimately forced Zeenat to leave the marriage. She said Mazhar would take seven painkillers a day despite requests from her and their children to stop. His kidneys eventually failed, but this happened after Zeenat had already left the marriage. Mazhar passed away in 1998 due to kidney failure.

'Mazhar's family took his every last penny'

Zeenat also spoke about how alone she felt while caring for her husband. She said she spent years taking care of him but rarely had anyone ask how she was doing. After Mazhar's death, Zeenat alleged that his family did not allow her to pay her last respects and that 'his mother and sister took every last penny he had.' She also said there was a time when her sons were turned against her and that Mazhar's family tried to take her children away from her.

Zeenat now shares photos with her sons on social media. She, in recent years, has found a new audience through both her work and her Instagram account. On the workfront, she was seen in the Netflix series The Royals in 2025.