After 25 years of marriage, EastEnders actress Nina Wadia and her spouse Raimond Mirza exchanged romantically renewed vows.
Fans of EastEnders remember Nina best as the tenacious Zainab Masood, a role she portrayed from 2007 to 2013 for six years.
She was involved in various tragic situations around that time, such as luring her violent husband Yusef into entering a burning building and learning about her son Syed’s romance with Christian Clarke.
Just a few months after meeting her spouse Raiomond through Nadia’s sister, the actress wed him for the first time in 1998.
The couple’s first wedding took place in Canada, where Raiomond comes from, in front of a sizable audience. This time, though, they made a different decision.
Only the couple’s two kids, Aidan, 16, and Tia, 19, were there for the renewal of their vows, which took place on the Croatian island of Losinj.
The Zainab Masood actress claimed in an interview with Hello! Magazine her daughter Tia, who was disappointed not to have attended the couple’s wedding, had suggested that the pair repeat their vows.
Tia said the funniest thing when she was younger, which is what sparked everything, Nina added. “Mum, how come I didn’t get to come to the wedding day? She asked me after glancing at our wedding images. I desired to attend.
In the midst of a “very eventful year,” Nina noted that the particular day was “about honoring their kids.”
Since it has been a very significant year for us in many ways, we decided to do something special.
Despite this, she admitted her son Aidan lacked his sister’s enthusiasm.
When we chose to repeat our vows, [Tia] was quite happy; my kid, not so much. He is a 16-year-old lad, thus he is not romantic in the slightest! But as we revealed our destination, he changed his mind.
“Our first wedding was a big one. We only wanted the four of us this time.
Nina recently said on ITV’s Loose Women panel that she would “go back in a heartbeat” and that she loved her time on EastEnders.
She had intended to return to comedy, where her career had first started, after leaving the BBC serial opera, but she later said that “Zainab Masood wrecked my career for a year since no casting directors touched me.”
