Samira Khashoggi

Samira Khashoggi (or Kashoggi) (Arabic: سميرة خاشقجي‎, 1935 – March 1986) was a Saudi Arabian progressive author, as well as the owner and editor-in chief of Alsharkiah magazine. She was the sister of Saudi businessman Adnan Khashoggi, and the first wife of Egyptian-born businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed and the mother of filmmaker 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] She died of a heart attack in 1986 at the age of 51.[3] Her family surname, Khashoggi, means "spoon maker" (Kaşıkçı) in the Turkish language.[4]

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.[5] 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 and of political journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Her son Dodi 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."[6] Her son was dating the late Diana, Princess of Wales, when they both died in a traffic collision in Paris on 31 August 1997.

References
  1. The First Post. "Michelle avoids Khashoggi and Thatcher in Marbella". Retrieved 2011-02-22.
  2. "About the Bin Laden family". PBS. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
  3. Joy, Ajish P. (December 22, 2018). All in the family. The Week. Retrieved: August 21, 2019.
  4. Kessler, Ronald (1987), Khashoggi: the rise and fall of the world's richest man, Corgi, p. 41, ISBN 978-0552130608
  5. Smith, Sally. "Dodi's Life in the Fast Lane". Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  6. Brough, Graham (Aug 12, 1997). "DODI; HIS LIFE STORY: His mother gave him his sensitive side..losing her was so terrible". The Mirror (London, England) – via Free Online Library.
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