Like many single parents, the twice-married model and television host Fiza Ali has her relationship priorities etched in stone: she will consider a future with another man only when he is ready to accept her daughter Faraal.
“I will get married only when I find someone who accepts my daughter and doesn’t have a problem with me working,” said Fiza in a clip that has been doing the rounds online.
The artist added that she had come close to starting a relationship again several times. “I’ve had many men approach me and send a proposal, and I’ve even had baat pakki, but then those people have turned around and said that Faraal must have no contact with her father,” explained Fiza.
Cutting off contact between father and daughter is not an option for Fiza. Fiza and Fawad may have called it quits, but the couple share custody of their daughter, who, according to Fiza, is often looked after by her paternal grandparents whilst Fiza is working long hours.
Enjoying a cordial relationship with her former in-laws, Fiza added, “I still call his parents Ammi and Abbu. There have been so many times when I’ve been running late from a shoot, so when I pick up Faraal from their house, I ask them to just pack up whatever they’ve had for dinner so I can take it home with me.”
As she has in the past, Fiza openly discussed her struggles before ending her marriage to Fawad. “He never hit me, was never rude to me, and never abused me in any way, but it was very important to him that I socialised everywhere,” she remarked.
Fiza explained that as she hailed from a markedly different family, where mingling with others was kept to a bare minimum, it was difficult for her to adjust to such a radically altered lifestyle, especially when she felt that her contributions to her chosen profession were going unnoticed by her then-husband.
“My stardom and whatever I did at work didn’t matter to him,” she said. “My social presence was the only thing that counted. He wanted me to be visible at every party, and every event. My work was like trash to him.”
Ultimately, after seeing the impact of a life where she was unable to mentally align with her partner, Fiza’s siblings intervened and advised her to end the relationship.
