08 May,2026 06:59 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Tannaz Irani (Pic/X)
Actress Tannaz Irani recently spoke about her first marriage, divorce, and how it took a toll on her and her daughter. She also spoke about her childhood and how her upbringing in the 1980s helped her deal with difficult times in her personal life. She credited the women in her family for instilling confidence in her and never making her feel insecure about herself.
The actress recently spoke her heart out in an interview with Hauterrfly. She said that she did not feel the need to fit into anyone else's expectations. "I don't give a damn; I will be whoever I want to be. I was always healthy, but nobody ever made me feel fat or uncomfortable about myself."
She credited the women in her family for instilling that confidence in her from an early age. "My grandmother was a diva. She wore off-shoulder clothes, flower-petal tops... the women in my house owned their space. The men never stopped them because the women kept them that way," she said.
Tannaz also shared that gender equality was something she witnessed firsthand at home. "My dad used to wake up every morning and make tea for my mother. He served her tea. He made our sandwiches too. Only when I entered the industry did I realise the outside world was very different."
Talking about her personal choices, Tannaz revealed that her family always trusted her instincts and stood by her decisions. "I got married to a Muslim man who was 18 years older than me. My family knew that Tannaz will always do what her heart wants," she said.
Tannaz married theatre artist Farid Currim at the age of 20. The marriage lasted eight years, and the former couple shares a daughter, Zianne. They divorced in 1993.
The actor went on to speak about why the marriage eventually came to an end. "When you're 20, you're growing so much as a woman. He was a great man and allowed me to find my own space, but I think I was looking for something else. I wanted to go out, party and do things, while he was much more mature," revealed Tannaz.
She admitted that only much later did she truly understand how deeply the separation may have affected her daughter. "I realised much later that maybe it wasn't easy for my daughter at all. She was small and understood what was happening," she said.
Opening up about the guilt she carried as a mother, Tannaz said, "Once you break that safety factor for a child, especially as a mother, you've broken it. Your daughter's biggest safety factor is her mother - and I broke that."
Looking back, she acknowledged there were things she might have handled differently. Tannaz also shared how rebuilding her relationship with her daughter took time, patience, and accountability. "She went into a shell. That was her coping mechanism. A lot of mothers ask how long they should allow that silence. My answer is - let them have it. You broke their safe home; now give them space," she said.
Emphasising that parenting comes with mistakes and learning, she added, "Parents are not gods. They make mistakes too. Sitting like a deity waiting for your child to come back doesn't work. You have to go to them."
Meanwhile, Tannaz later married actor Bakhtiyaar Irani in 2007, and the couple now have two children, Zeus and Zara.
