A British woman says she feels “stupid” for “wasting six years of her life” marrying an Egyptian man 18 years her junior.
Now the man in question has fired back with a defiant message regarding the reason they split.
Julia Clark, 53, from Lincoln explained her relationship with Ahmed, 35, blossomed on Facebook after she and her family enjoyed a holiday in Egypt in 2016.
READ MORE: ‘I left my husband and kids for an Egyptian lover but what happened next broke me”
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Connecting with a hotel worker on social media led to a friend request from one of his pals who she suddenly found herself chatting to several times a week.
(Image: Paul David Drabble)
Julia told OK! her husband Peter clocked how often the pair were speaking and before she knew it, divorce was on the cards in March 2017. It wasn’t until September 2018 that Julia and Ahmed finally met face-to-face and while it seemed “surreal” the “sparks flew instantly.”
During Julia’s 12-day break, he popped the question on an apartment rooftop.
Julia revealed: “He said, ‘Will you marry me?’ I thought, ‘Oh my God!’ but then I thought, ‘OK.’ However, I knew we shouldn’t rush it.”
(Image: Paul David Drabble)
She added: “I went to Egypt every eight to nine months to see Ahmed and in September 2020 I moved there to start a new life. I gave everything up – my house, my kids, my family. It wasn’t easy because my children were my life. I still can’t believe I did it. I was a stay-at-home mum – I’d always been there for my kids.”
The couple tied the knot in Cairo at the embassy. Ahmed told Julia not to wear anything special because it was a “low key day.”
What Julia didn’t know was how she fitted into Ahmed’s family plans as he had every intention of becoming a dad and boasting multiple wives at the same time.
Julia said: “In February 2022, he took me to a café that I loved. It was beautiful, but he dropped a bombshell on me. He told me that he needed to marry an Egyptian woman so he could have children as I’m older and had gone through the menopause.
(Image: Paul David Drabble)
“It broke me. I couldn’t sit there knowing that my husband was away having babies with another woman.”
“We had spoken about second wives throughout our relationship, but he’d told me that he didn’t need anyone else and he didn’t mind not having his own kids. We married under Islamic law and they asked me what conditions I wanted to put in the marriage agreement, so I said I didn’t want him to marry a second wife.
“However, Ahmed was entitled to four wives, so we had it in writing that if he wanted another wife he had to get my permission which, obviously, I could never give.”
(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
When asked for a comment by OK! on his relationship with Julia, Ahmed defiantly told the magazine: “It was an Islamic wedding in an Islamic country so technically I was allowed four wives. Julia is an English woman and I am an Egyptian man and there are many differences between us in thought and culture.”
Julia admitted she “felt stupid.” By 2022 they were officially divorced and Julia has since moved back to the UK.
“I gave Ahmed everything. I gave him the world. I’d wasted six years of my life.”
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