The handsome Punjabi lad, Dharmendra, has made many girls go weak in their knees with his looks. But the actor was bowled over by the South Indian beauty, Hema Malini. He was already married to Prakash Kaur, and they were parents to Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Vijeeta Deol, and Ajeeta Deol. But despite being married, Dharmendra couldn’t stop himself from falling for Hema.
Dharmendra was so in love with Hema that he was ready to leave Prakash, but she was not ready to divorce him. As a result, Hema and Dharam converted to Islam and got married. The couple was blessed with a baby girl on November 2, 1981, whom they lovingly named Esha Deol. In 1985, they completed their family when they welcomed their second daughter, Ahana Deol.
Esha Deol learned about her dad, Dharmendra’s first marriage when she was in grade four. In Hema Malini’s biography, Hema Malini: Beyond the Dream Girl, by Ram Kamal Mukherjee, Esha recalled the same and recalled how once her classmate asked her, ‘You have two moms, right?’ The little girl, who was unaware of her father’s first marriage, immediately responded to her classmate and said:
“I immediately snapped back at my classmate, saying, ‘What rubbish! I have only one mother’.”
The question asked by her classmate stayed with Esha, and when she reached home, she told her mom, Hema, about what her friend asked her. It was at that point when Hema Malini told her daughter, Esha, about her dad, Dharmendra’s first marriage and their kids. Revealing how it never affected her, Esha said:
“So, that was when I understood that my mother had married someone who was already married to another lady and that they also had a family. But frankly speaking, I never felt bad about it. Till today, I don’t think there is anything wrong with it. And I give full credit to my parents for not making us ever feel uncomfortable.”
Despite being married to Hema Malini, Dharmendra lived with Prakash. He would visit Hema and their kids and share a meal with them but would not stay back. Recalling how she would visit her friends and see both the parents present. In her words:
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“When I was younger, I used to go to my friends’ houses where I would see both parents being around. That’s when I realized that it’s normal to have dads around too. But somehow, we were groomed in a way that it didn’t affect me much. I was very content with my mother and I loved my father.”
It was reported that Hema and her family were not allowed to visit Dharmendra’s house, where his first wife, Prakash Kaur, lived. Esha was the first one to enter the house. In Hema Malini's biography, Esha shared the same and revealed that she was extremely close to Dharmendra’s brother, Ajeet Deol, who is also Abhay Deol’s father. However, as Ajeet fell ill in 2015, Esha wanted to meet him and check on him, but he was being treated at Dharmendra’s house. Recalling how Sunny Deol helped her, Esha said:
“I wanted to meet my uncle and pay my respects. He loved me and Ahana very much and we were also very close to Abhay. We had no other way than to go to his house. He was not even in the hospital that we would meet him there. So I called Sunny Bhaiya and they made full arrangements to meet him.”
Despite Hema Malini and Dharmendra's unconventional marriage, Esha Deol and Ahana Deol share a warm bond with their dad’s first wife and their children.
Also Read: Neila Devi Talked About Shammi Kapoor's Love Story With Geeta Bali, His Drinking Habit And More
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