Juhi Chawla, celebrated Bollywood actress, has been married to businessman Jay Mehta for 29 years. Recently, she revealed why they opted for a low-key wedding. Overwhelmed by the idea of a grand celebration, Juhi requested her mother-in-law to cancel the wedding invites at the last minute.
Speaking at the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Juhi shared that she was in the midst of shooting several significant movies and feared the impact a lavish wedding might have on her film career. She explained, “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 and she said, ‘It’s okay.’”
Juhi’s mother-in-law had already sent out around 2000 invitations, but she managed to recall them and support Juhi’s decision. Juhi reminisced, “She convinced the family to not have the big wedding and I got married at home with just the family and closest friends in attendance. So with just 80-90 people present. Imagine your mother-in-law cancelling the invites that had already been sent out.”
In 1998, Juhi was shooting for the movie Duplicate when she received the devastating news of her mother Mona Chawla’s untimely death in an accident. Jay, having lost his first wife Sujata Birla in a plane crash in 1990, was a pillar of support for Juhi during this challenging period. “That was a very difficult time for me, because I felt I was going to lose everything I loved,” Juhi shared with CNN-News18.
Jay’s consistent presence and gestures of love helped Juhi navigate her grief. “From then on, everywhere I went, he turned up. Everywhere I looked, he was there with flowers and notes and gifts. Every day! On my birthday, I remember he sent me a truckload of red roses. I was like, ‘What do you do with a truckload of flowers?’ He really did all he could. After a year, he proposed,” Juhi recalled.
Their story is a testament to the strength of love and support during life’s most challenging times.
