Shabana Azmi recently opened up about Javed Akhtar's first wife Honey Irani's reaction to her affair with the veteran lyricist on the chat show The Invincibles Series Season 2 with Arbaaz Khan. Shabana Azmi credited Honey Irani for handling the situations gracefully back then. However, the Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahaani actor revealed Honey Irani was "bitter" when the affair started. Shabana Azmi recalled Honey Irani initially maintained a safe distance and didn't force to make a relationship. Speaking to Arbaaz Khan, she said, "I really doff my hat to Honey, because that generosity came from her. And today, even with Honey, we have a really, really good relationship. I know that Honey has the confidence to call Javed in the middle of the night if she needs something, and he would come."
Shabana Azmi also talked about how Javed Akhtar worked hard to re-build his equation with Honey Irani. "We decided that there should be no bitterness involved. Of course, in the beginning, she was very bitter, she felt rejected. But he kept at it, he kept at it, he kept at it. And today, what's come from it is really something that I'm proud of."
Crediting Farhan, Zoya and Honey Irani for maintaining a healthy inter-personal relationship over the years, Shabana Azmi said, "I feel very happy, because I have a very beautiful relationship with Zoya and Farhan, and I really give the credit to Honey. They were really young kids at the time, and it would've been the easiest thing in the world for Honey to take them away. She never did that; she encouraged them to be with us," the Arth actor said.
Last year, Shabana Azmi treated her Instafam to some pictures from her London diaries. In the first image, we see her enjoying sumptuous Lebanese cuisine in London in the company of her husband Javed Akhtar, Farhan Akhtar and Shibani Dandekar. They are also joined by Javed Akhtar's first wife Honey Irani. Shabana Azmi captioned the first post as, "Lebanese food in London." Take a look:
Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani got married in 1972 and divorced in 1985. He married Shabana Azmi in 1984.