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TRIGGER WARNING: THIS STORY CONTAINS MENTIONS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN.

Actor Juggan Kazim opened up about the domestic violence she endured during her first marriage and has urged everyone to take the first sign of abuse very seriously. “You must make a decision there and then,” she cautioned.

In an appearance on Adnan Faisal’s podcast, Kazim recalled being beaten to a pulp in her first marriage, even while she was seven months pregnant. The actor said she stayed in that abusive relationship for a year and a half until she finally decided to grab her kid and leave.

Recalling the Zahir Jaffer-Noor Mukadam case, Kazim said she had nightmares at the time because all the graphic details would pop up online and would remind her of the abuse she faced. “I felt like someone was twisting my insides because that case showed me that all my fears were real, that I too could have ended up killed and defiled. I don’t fear dying, I fear dying in disgrace.”

Kazim noted that domestic violence is rampant in Pakistan. “I have been beaten for 1.5 years so I will tell you this, the first time he raises his hand on you, actually, the first time he uses foul language, it should ring an alarm. We all know gaalis [expletives] but once you have crossed that boundary with language, it won’t be long before you cross other boundaries too.”

She reiterated that the first time a man hits a woman won’t be the last time. “If it happened once it will happen again and a woman needs to make a decision then and there. I didn’t make one so I suffered.” When the host asked if she felt she made a mistake by not stepping up the first time, Kazim said, “No, Hamza wouldn’t have happened if I did.”

Hamza is Kazim’s son from her first marriage.

The actor went on to share that the first time her ex-husband hit her was three weeks into their marriage. She also admitted that getting married was her choice because he was a ‘good-looking’ guy. “My fault, no one else’s,” she said.

The actor said that she did not talk about the abuse she endured when the Noor Mukadam case came to light because she didn’t want to go viral for it, especially when so much else was happening.

“Everyone at the time shared their struggle with abuse and I didn’t want to jump on that bandwagon. I am talking today because I know what I’m saying won’t go viral now, but those listening will understand when I say, I thought I would also die at the hands of that man when I was getting beaten.”

She recalled being thrown out of the house seven months into her pregnancy. “I had a huge tummy, he tore my clothes, not just a little, like properly tore my clothes and threw me out of the apartment. God bless my neighbours who came to me and covered me up.”

The Hadsa actor also opened up about her marriage to Feisal Naqvi after getting out of that abusive first marriage. Recalling how headlines were made about her tying the knot with a ‘well-settled’ lawyer, she said she was earning more than him at the time.

“I earned more than Feisal did when we got married. But a big deal was made about his wealth to make it sound like I was marrying him for money. And when the time came to buy a house, I bought it. Not because my husband couldn’t but because I wanted to. I strictly told him, ‘You will not invest in this house,’ because I had had enough of people telling me that this is your father’s house or that is your husband’s house. I wanted my own house,” she shared.

Kazim’s story serves as a stark reminder that signs of abuse, whether verbal or physical, should not be ignored. The actor’s message is clear: abuse is never acceptable and that taking action at the first sign of it is imperative.