Samira Khashoggi

Samira Khashoggi (or Kashoggi) (1935 – March 1986) was an influential Saudi Arabian progressive author, as well as the owner and editor-in chief of Alsharkiah magazine. She was the sister of Saudi billionaire businessman Adnan Khashoggi, and the first wife of billionaire Egyptian-born businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed. She was the mother of Dodi Fayed.

Personal life

Her father Muhammad Khashoggi was a medical doctor of Turkish descent,^[1] and was King Abdul Aziz Al Saud's personal doctor.^[2] The family name means spoonmaker (Kaşıkçı) in Turkish. She was the sister of Saudi billionaire businessman Adnan Khashoggi.

Writing career

She wrote under the pseudonym Samirah ‘Daughter of the Arabian Peninsula’. Her books include Wadda’t Amali (Farewell to my Dreams, 1958) “Thekrayāt Dām’ah’ (Tearful Memories, 1963), ‘Wara’ Aldabab’ (Beyond the Cloud, 1971), Qatrat Min ad-Dumu’(Teardrops,1979) and ‘Barīq Aynaik’(The Sparkle of Your Eyes). Since 1972, Al-Sharkiah (the oriental woman) has been the leading monthly pan-Arab women’s magazine. Khashoggi was the first Saudi female publisher and columnist; a dynamic, pioneering and highly respected thinker.

Family

She met Mohamed Al-Fayed on the beach in Alexandria and they married in 1954.^[3] The marriage lasted two years, and produced one child, Dodi Fayed. Samira separated from Mohamed Al-Fayed just months after Dodi's birth.

She then married Saudi Ambassador Anas Yassin and had her second child, Jumana Yassin.

She was the aunt of actress and producer Nabila Khashoggi.

Her son Dodi Fayed was reportedly devoted to her, and would telephone her almost every day up to her death. Dodi once told a friend: "If it meant giving up everything I have—cars, wealth, and women—I would do it to bring my mother back."^[4]

She died of a heart attack in 1986.

References