The Pakistani writer on enduring an abusive relationship in the public eye, and how she broke free

Fatima Bhutto was born into one of Pakistan’s most famous families. A wealthy and powerful political dynasty, marked by decades of bloody violence. Threats to the family were constant. And so the need to keep secrets became Bhutto’s norm.

Her father, Murtaza Bhutto, was killed in a police shootout outside the family home. She was just 14 years old, her world turned utterly upside down. That sadness and trauma, the sudden and silent disappearances of her childhood, followed her as an adult.