LETTER FROM BEIRUT
For months, the Arab public has been fascinated by the setbacks of the Egyptian singer Sherine Abdel Wahab, grappling with a story that mixes divorce and accusations of domestic violence, addiction and forced hospitalization by her family. Many have expressed their support for the 42-year-old pop star presented as « Arab Britney Spears ». Her story reminded Egyptians of the American star’s struggle against her guardianship and the sometimes precarious situation of women in the conservative country. The Egyptian artist has, for the moment, offered her fans a happy ending: she put an end to the public unboxing after the announcement of her new marriage with the Egyptian singer Hossam Habib and the new concert dates.
This isn’t the first time Sherine Abdel Wahab has made headlines since her acclaimed 2002 debut album Free mix 3, which has sold over 20 million copies. The prolific singer – seven albums, a film, a sitcom and a role as a juror in the Arab version of the talent show The voice – was given a six-month suspended prison sentence in 2018 for joking at a concert about the water quality of the Nile, before being acquitted.
The Britney Spears analogy burst into the public eye when Sherine Abdel Wahab took the stage in January 2022 in Abu Dhabi, with her head shaved, as the American singer had done in 2007. Stunned, some of her fans had conjured a punishment for having dared, a month earlier, to divorce her husband, the singer Hossam Habib. Their rocky relationship had been fueling the tabloids for months. “Why shouldn’t it be a new look? A change ? Or something I would have done myself, even if I was depressed? Why did you immediately assume the worst? » he replied on Twitter. In July, Sherine Abdel Wahab changed her tune. She revealed to the press that she was attacked by “blows and insults” from her ex-husband, and accused him of being behind her shaved head. A long descent into hell ensued, marked by respective accusations and denunciations.
“Hospitalization was needed”
In a new twist, her brother, Mohammed Abdel Wahab, announced in mid-October that he had to force her into drug treatment. Then allegations of kidnapping soon surfaced. The comparison of her with Britney Spears, kept under guardianship by her father due to her health problems, was this time invoked by her fans, who expressed their support on her social networks by bringing out the hashtag #freebritney (“Free Britney”). The famous lawyer filed a complaint against her brother, accused of beating her and forcibly hospitalizing her, before withdrawing the complaint. “Medical reports say hospitalization was required”then justified Mand Yasser Qantush on television.
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