Riz Ahmed Is Married—and Just Opened Up About His Private Wedding Day

It's been a few months since Riz Ahmed tied the knot in low-key fashion, but the actor is now opening up about married life for the first time—and explaining why he never meant for his relationship to be a secret. On The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Ahmed shared that he met his wife Fatima Farheen Mirza, a novelist, in a New York café as he prepared for his part in his new film, Sound of Metal.

Even though he is just now revealing these details, he explained that a clandestine wedding wasn't the goal; he says that social media actually plays a large part in his private approach to his personal life, Entertainment Tonight reports. "It's a weird one, isn't it? I guess because we live in a social media age if you don't, like, get on the megaphone about stuff it's like, it's a secret—but I never know how much is oversharing," he said. "Like, I'm into matcha lattes, but that's just never come up. I'm not a secret matcha latte drinker."

In terms of their wedding day, the actor noted that he and Farheen Mirza kept with COVID-19 guidelines and had a small affair. "Obviously, kept it super intimate, and socially distanced. There was just like, hardly anyone there really," Ahmed added. "We did it in a backyard, which is nice in lots of ways. And I think the nicest thing about it was you didn't have 500 aunties hanging around you, pinching your cheeks. No disrespect to the aunties!"

The entertainer and activist also noted that Sound of Metal, in which he plays a drummer who experiences hearing loss, is that much more special to him because he met his life partner—and a myriad of new friends—while making it. "Obviously, I met Fatima for the first time and met so many people in the deaf community that have become friends," he shared of preparing for his role. "And there's just something about this whole period around this film that was kind of life changing."