In a rare and deeply personal revelation, Gultekin Khan, the first wife of late writer, dramatist and filmmaker Humayun Ahmed, has spoken publicly about her painful experiences during their marriage. In a lengthy Facebook post published on October 3, 2025, she urged young women and their parents to learn from her life so that “no girl should repeat my mistake.”
“I do not want to see a single negative comment about me,” she wrote at the outset, explaining that she was writing not for publicity but as a warning to others. “I wrote these truths only for young girls, women, and their guardians. I shared such personal incidents because I don’t want any girl to suffer as I did. In my whole marriage, my parents bore more fault than me.”
Recalling Days in the United States
Much of her account revolves around her years with Humayun Ahmed in the United States, where he was pursuing higher studies. She described the pressures of maintaining a household, raising their young daughter Nova, and supporting him through academic challenges.
But the most painful memory she shared was of being locked out of their home on a freezing December night after an argument. “He told me to leave the house. I asked, where will I go? He replied, go wherever you want. He pushed me outside and locked the door,” she wrote.
Clad only in a shirt, pants, and sponge sandals, she stood shivering in the bitter cold. Her cries and knocks went unanswered. “My hands and feet were almost frozen,” she recalled, before she ran towards a nearby shop called “Tochi,” run by an elderly American woman. Allowed to use the phone, she called a friend named Ann, who rescued her and offered shelter.
Lying in bed that night, far away from her baby Nova, she says she broke down in tears: “I cried thinking of Nova. Here, I had no parents, no brothers, no relatives. How could he do this to me?”
Questions of Divorce and Truth
Gultekin also described the period when lawyers, reportedly sent by Dr. Yasmeen Haque, visited her to discuss separation and property issues. “They asked me how much money Humayun had in the bank. I said I don’t know. They asked about our joint account — but we had none. I told them only one thing: he has a relationship with another girl, all kinds of relationship, as he himself told me.”
She denied suggestions that she had been seeking divorce. “That was not true. I did not even know the rules of divorce. In America, how would I have known? Many things he later wrote in his autobiographical books were fictionalized. I repeatedly begged him not to write such things about me. But he told me, ‘What I am writing is like water, absolutely true. If there are lies, readers will enjoy them more.’”
Her words suggest not only a personal struggle but also an underlying contest between private truth and public narrative, especially in the way Humayun Ahmed’s books shaped his own image.
A Warning for the Next Generation
Despite recounting her suffering, Gultekin avoided naming names, saying those individuals are “now married and living in peace” and she did not wish to disturb them.
What she emphasized, however, was her determination that her children, especially daughters, should not repeat her mistakes. “I will not let Nova make the same mistake. Her husband must never dare to throw her out of the house,” she wrote.
Her post also conveyed the isolation of a young woman abroad, far from family, facing emotional neglect. “I see countless pictures before my eyes, where an 18- or 19-year-old girl silently stands while Humayun Ahmed scolds her however he pleases,” she recalled.
Legacy and Controversy
Humayun Ahmed, who later married actress-director Meher Afroz Shaon, remains Bangladesh’s most celebrated popular author, with characters like Himu and Misir Ali and works such as Kothao Keu Nei and Aguner Poroshmoni shaping generations. Yet Gultekin’s testimony offers a contrasting view of the man behind the literary legend.
Her post has already sparked discussion online, with many noting that she had long remained silent in public, unlike Ahmed’s second wife Shaon, who is a media personality. By finally choosing to speak, Gultekin has presented not an attack, but a testimony meant to guide others.
“I was scared even to speak to the lawyer,” she wrote, looking back at her own silence. “Perhaps I should have divorced him then and there. But I could not.”
A Voice After Silence
With her candid post, Gultekin Khan has reintroduced herself not as a shadow in the life of a famous man, but as a woman reclaiming her truth. While her revelations may stir controversy, she framed them firmly as a lesson: “No girl should repeat my mistake.”
Her words reopen a chapter of Bangladeshi cultural history that has long remained hidden — the personal struggles behind the celebrated figure of Humayun Ahmed.
