Bollywood actor Salman Khan has had a huge fan following right from the start of his career. When he made his film debut in Maine Pyar Kiya in 1989, his Prem was loved by fans all over the world and one of those fans was Somy Ali. While it is well known today that the two had a romantic relationship in the 90s, not many at the time knew that Somy had flown in from the US because she had fallen in love with Salman after watching his film.
In a recent chat with Free Press Journal, Somy shared that she was 16 when she saw the Sooraj Barjatya film and had a dream about marriage. She already had a huge crush on Salman and took this as a sign and decided to come to India. “I kept Salman’s photo in my wallet. By the time I reached here, his Baaghi had released, and Salman was already a megastar,” she said.
Somy Ali eventually entered Bollywood and even worked with Salman on a film, which later got shelved and it was during this time that she confessed her feelings towards him. “We were heading to Nepal. I was sitting next to him. I just removed his photo showing it to him. I told him, ‘I have come all the way to marry you!’ He said, ‘I have a girlfriend.’ I said that doesn’t matter. I was a teenager. Our relationship started after a year when I turned 17. He did tell me first, ‘I love you.’ It didn’t take a lot of convincing,” she said.
The relationship lasted almost a decade and in this time, Somy shared a wonderful relationship with Salman Khan’s parents. She shared, “What I learned from his parents is so phenomenal. They had an open house. Every day people would come and go. They would be loving and feed them. The door was never locked. Another pivotal lesson I learned is that we are all the same. They did not differentiate in religion at all. They never saw any difference in religion. It is very important to learn from them.”
In an earlier conversation with Zoom, Somy had shared that they broke up because Salman cheated on her. “He cheated on me and I broke up with him and left. It’s as simple as that,” she had said.
After parting ways, Somy Ali headed back to America where she is now working on her NGO No More Tears.
