Actress Laila Taher Addresses Rumors of Her Death in Interview with Asharq Al-Awsat

While she was spending some time in the Al-Jazira Sports Club in Cairo, as usual, she was surprised by most of those in the club coming to check on her and telling her, “Thank God for your safety.” The artist, who had been away from the limelight for years, discovered that they had read the news of her death through websites and “Social Media” pages to flock to her. Numerous contacts from her relatives and lovers. The head of the Acting Professions Syndicate, Ashraf Zaki, denied the rumor through a statement he issued on Tuesday, confirming that the artist is in good health.

This was not the first time that Taher had heard the news of her death, as she told Asharq Al-Awsat: “As distressed as I am by the rumor, I was pleased with people asking about me and their interest in me. They believe only after they hear my voice.”

Taher wonders, “I don’t know why they insist on my death. I believe that (every deadline has a book).”

And the artist explains the matter, saying, “This is poverty for some. They have nothing to write, so they fabricate rumors. Therefore, I hope that the Actors Syndicate and the competent media authorities will take a position on these abuses directed at the Egyptian artist and harm him. There must be a force that confronts them and stops them at their limit.”

Although she sometimes follows the “Social Media” sites and sees positive aspects of them, the artist, Laila Taher, confirms: “I hated the communication sites because of the abuses that occur in them and the cases of bullying of the artists. For the occasion that she attends, and she is a really beautiful woman, just as male and female artists are subjected to bullying to compare their old pictures and after they have grown up, as if time will stop for them, so why do they hurt those who entertained them with their art?

Taher had been absent from acting since her participation in the series “The Door in the Door” 10 years ago. She also participated before that in the movie “Ramadan Mabrouk Abu Al-Alamein” in front of Muhammad Heneidy. At that time, she was looking forward to continuing her artistic work, but now she is no longer seeking. Therefore, as she says: «I feel that I have achieved an artistic history that was distinguished and honorable with important works. less work.”

And she explains: «I have loved acting in itself, and not a specific field, since my inception while I was a student at the university when I played the starring role in the movie (Abu Hadid) with Farid Shawqi, and I have received hundreds of honors from Egypt and abroad, and I no longer have a place to put more of them. I am happy with what I have achieved, and I am content with it, and I live on the history that I have achieved. My works are still being presented, and the public is telling me about them, and I thank God for that a lot.

And the artist reveals part of the secrets of her career, saying: “She took the field of art very seriously, with a sense of responsibility and a desire to achieve success, and in search of the best work, not necessarily the highest paid.”

Layla Taher did not write her memoirs, and she did not intend to: “Some of my memoirs were published by Zaman newspapers and magazines and had errors, but I do not think about writing them because my life did not contain secrets, and everything was known about me. I lived a sweet and beautiful life.”

Laila Taher often meets the public, as she goes by herself to buy her needs from the stores and does not hide her face with large glasses, but rather welcomes people to gather around her: “People’s love is a great blessing from God, and the audience is the basis of the artist’s success, and I did not feel at any time distressed by fame.”

The great artist lives her life simply, explaining: “I practice my life normally. I live with my son Ahmed and his wife, the artist Azza Labib, and my grandchildren and brothers. Many of my friends are gone, and my friendships in the artistic community are limited.”

And about the current works of art, she says: “TV works have recently regained their luster and diversity, but where is cinema and movies? Production has diminished in quantity and quality, and I hope that cinema will regain its position, as we lack distinguished writers and literary works that enrich cinema as it was.”