In the past few weeks, the story of an Egyptian pop star admitted into a rehabilitation facility has spilled beyond celebrity gossip, and sparked new debate on women’s rights in the conservative country.
Sherine Abdel Wahab has long been a darling of Arab pop, but recent events have earned her the title of “Egypt’s Britney Spears” — not for her musical talent, but because of her family’s efforts to portray her as unfit to manage her own affairs.
Her fan base was shocked when she appeared sporting a dramatic new buzzcut, but when she was last month admitted into a rehabilitation facility for an unspecified addiction, it sparked a groundswell of debate.
Photo: AFP
“I never would have expected that I would call Sherine Abdel Wahab Egypt’s Britney Spears, but this is what is happening,” former influential blogger Mahmoud Salem wrote on Facebook. “A rich and successful star and based on her choices and her haircut, people decided that she is not OK — her parents placed her in a facility against her will and say she is incompetent and in need of guardianship.”
Questions of consent and coercion were raised in a country where the government last year proposed — without success — a draft bill aimed at restricting the rights of nearly 50 million Egyptian women by allowing their fathers or brothers to annul their marriages.
Nearly 8 million women out of Egypt’s 104 million people were victims of violence committed by their partners or relatives, or by strangers in public spaces, a UN survey found in 2015.
Photo: AFP
In the midst of the heated online discussion, conflicting versions of events have emerged from her family and her former husband, singer Hossam Habib.
The Abdel Wahab family has accused Habib of being violent and wanting to take advantage of the singer’s fame and money, which Habib denies.
Sherine Abdel Wahab’s brother and Habib spoke by telephone on different days to tell their side of the story on the TV program al-Hekaya, anchored by Amr Adib, one of Egypt’s most watched show hosts.
“My mother was begging me to save her from her addiction,” Mohammed Abdel Wahab said, accusing Habib of beating her and saying he had been forced to admit her into rehab.
“I have never been violent toward a woman, and I never took a pound from Sherine,” Habib said.
However, weeks into her rehab stint, one voice has been missing from the raging debate — that of Sherine Abdel Wahab herself.
In her last TV appearance early last month, Sherine Abdel Wahab — usually known for her candor, which has often landed her in trouble — spoke cryptically of her supposed addiction.
“You can be addicted to medicine, to food, to bad habits, it is not just drugs,” she said.
In the online din, misinformation has thrived, including claims that the singer had died or slipped into a coma. A recording circulated on social media claimed to be a leaked telephone call in which Sherine Abdel Wahab said she was a victim of “a conspiracy.”
Viewed by 1.6 million people on Facebook, the video turned out to be an old voice clip from 2019.
Her lawyer, Yasser Qantoush, who last month accused the family of entering her home and having her committed against her will, has since withdrawn his complaint from a public prosecutors’ office.
“I saw the medical reports deeming hospitalization necessary,” Qantoush told Adib’s show.
“Sherine is a rare talent, she took up the torch of the great voices of the Arab world,” said Tarek Mortada, a spokesman of the Egyptian musicians’ union.
Her first album, Free Mix 3, sold more than 20 million copies.
With seven albums, a film, a TV series role and a seat as a judge on the Arabic version of The Voice talent show, the 42-year-old singer fascinates the Egyptian public.
“Whether we love her or hate her, her name is engraved on our hearts,” Mortada said. “Sherine Abdel Wahab is a victim of her own success, too many people want something from her.”
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