Actor Ali Abbas recently opened up about the emotional turmoil he faced during his early years following his father, veteran actor Waseem Abbas’s, second marriage to renowned actress Saba Hamid. In a candid appearance on Excuse Me with Ahmad Ali Butt, Ali shared how the shift in his family dynamic deeply impacted him and led to a strained relationship with his father.

Ali recalled that he was just 11 or 12 years old when his father remarried. “When he got married again, our bond broke,” he said, reflecting on a time filled with confusion, anger, and responsibility. As the eldest sibling, Ali felt compelled to step up and care for his younger brother and two sisters. “I had to become a parent to my siblings because my father would no longer be investing time in us, and my mother was going through depression.”

Waseem Abbas tied the knot with Saba Hamid in 1993. Saba, a divorcee at the time, already had two children—Meesha and Faris Shafi—from a previous marriage. The young Ali feared that his father’s focus would shift entirely to his new family, leaving his first household emotionally abandoned.

Despite his resentment, Ali said he made a conscious choice to mature quickly and become a stabilising force at home. “I always choose to be part of the solution, not the problem,” he remarked. Still, he acknowledged that a rift had developed between him and his father. Over time, however, Ali’s perspective began to shift. “Eventually I realised that the biggest victim in all of this was my father. He, too, was suffering because of the separation.”

Ali also reflected on how men of his father’s generation often kept their struggles to themselves. “They were strong, but they didn’t open up. That made it difficult for us to understand what they were going through.”

Understanding this, Ali took the first step in healing their relationship. “I read that sometimes you just need to listen to someone. You can’t fix their problems, but listening helps. So I started talking to him, and he began opening up to me.”

Today, things have improved significantly. “Since then, I’ve developed a bond with him,” Ali said, offering a glimpse of hope and reconciliation after years of emotional distance.