Veteran actress Zeenat Aman is known for often getting candid in her Instagram captions. On Tuesday, the celebrated ‘Qurbani’ actress penned a lengthy note reflecting on a time far from glamour and stardom. Her note reverberated with a tone of candor as she opened up about her trials as a single mother struggling to put food on the table for her kids amidst dwindling popularity. Aman talked about the ‘terrifying’ loneliness that encompassed her life during a phase unknown to the public.

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Sharing a set of glamorous photos, the ‘Don’ actress reminisced about a period before her renaissance and her zenith of stardom during her youth. She penned, “This then is a frank acknowledgment of the difficult phase. Those excruciating weeks that turned to months that turned to years. The time when the work dried up, the body aged, and one felt their relevance slip away. At first, there was the sheer relief of anonymity. But then came the fear of how to keep food on the table. With no husband to turn to, no sibling to lean on, and two helpless children to provide for, it was terrifyingly lonely.”

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A post shared by Zeenat Aman (@thezeenataman)

Reflecting on her dwindling stardom and the struggle to keep up as a single mother of two, Aman recalled taking whatever work came her way. “I did not have the luxury of discernment or whimsy. It was bone-rattling drives to nondescript towns for event appearances, accommodation at no-star hotels with filthy sheets, trite renditions of ‘Chura Liya’ in smelly halls, poorly drafted scripts that pushed me to the edge of sanity, being jostled like a prop during stifling photo ops… and then there were the other odd jobs. Teaching poise and etiquette, writing agony aunt columns, even narrating audio tapes.”

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Revealing the details, Aman also expressed gratitude towards the organizations that offered her work during those tumultuous times and thanked her fans who showed up at those events. Even though the paycheck was laughable, it managed to keep the lights on in her abode, for which she is unabashedly thankful. Adding an optimistic touch to her note, Aman emphasized the importance of persistence and the dignity of labor and how these two things can help navigate tough times.

Reflecting on her life now, where she has the luxury to be picky about her projects, Zeenat Aman calls it a ‘privilege’ that she enjoys and is something she doesn’t dare to take for granted.

Celebrating her legacy and elegance, netizens and celebrities alike flooded her comment section, hailing her as an inspiration.