Mouna Ayoub ( ar, منى أيوب) (born 27 February 1957 in Kuwait) is a French socialite and businesswoman of Lebanese origin. Frequently in the media, she is often a guest of the
Cannes film festival
The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
and makes headlines in French gossip magazines.
Biography
She was born into a
Maronite Christian
Lebanese Maronite Christians ( ar, المسيحية المارونية في لبنان; syc, ܡܫܝܚܝ̈ܐ ܡܪ̈ܘܢܝܐ ܕܠܒܢܢ) are adherents of the Maronite Church in Lebanon, which is the largest Christian denomination in the country ...
family. At the age of 20 she converted to
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
to marry
Nasser Al-Rashid, a 40-year-old businessman and adviser to
King Fahd
Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ( ar, فهد بن عبد العزيز آل سعود ''Fahd ibn ʿAbd al ʿAzīz Āl Suʿūd'', ; 1920, 1921 or 1923 – 1 August 2005) was a Saudi Arabian politician who was King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia fro ...
. She has five children with
Nasser Al-Rashid. After eighteen years of marriage, and according to her divorce agreements, she left
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
and built a fortune by investing in real estate and stocks.
She wrote about her marriage in her 2000 book ''La Vérité: autobiographie''.
Ayoub stated she wrote the book to explain her situation, and to address allegations published by a Lebanese magazine that she was a modern-day
Madame Bovary
''Madame Bovary'' (; ), originally published as ''Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners'' ( ), is a novel by France, French writer Gustave Flaubert, published in 1856. The eponymous character lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities ...
.
As Scott MacLeod of ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' wrote: "But if her tale provides a rare look at the extravagance often wrought by unimagined wealth, it also serves as a disturbing manifesto against the extreme
restrictions imposed on women by some ultraconservative Arab societies."
Her former husband filed suit in an attempt to stop publication of the autobiography.
The book became a best seller in France.
In 1997, she bought a boat from
Bernard Tapie
Bernard Roger Tapie (; 26 January 1943 – 3 October 2021) was a French businessman, politician and occasional actor, singer, and TV host. He was Minister of City Affairs in the government of Pierre Bérégovoy.
Life and career
Tapie was bor ...
, the ''
Phocéa'' (the largest
sailing yacht
A sailing yacht (US ship prefixes SY or S/Y), is a leisure craft that uses sails as its primary means of propulsion. A yacht may be a sail or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, so the term applie ...
in the world before 2004), for €5.56 million to which was added €18.25 million worth of work.
To pay for the work she sold a number of her jewels including "The Mouna diamond", one of the largest yellow diamonds of the world () for a price of €2.52 million (16.5 million francs) a
Bulgari necklace for 15.3 million francs, and a collection of jewels by
Tabbah
Tabbah is a bespoke jewelry company that was founded in 1862 and now is a family business owned and run by Nabil and Nagib Tabbah. The company has made jewelry for the Wedding of Albert II, Prince of Monaco, and Charlene Wittstock. Tabbah's int ...
.
After getting rid of the yacht, she sold the contents in a well publicized auction.
The Associated Press estimated her net worth at over $300 million.
In 2006, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' offered a figure of about $500 million.
She has the largest private collection of
haute couture
''Haute couture'' (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design that is constructed by hand from start-to-finish. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Paris became th ...
in the world, encompassing more than 10,000 items.
She never wears the same item of couture twice, and all of the major couture houses maintain an Ayoub
mannequin
A mannequin (also called a dummy, lay figure, or dress form) is a doll, often articulated, used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, window dressers and others, especially to display or fit clothing and show off different fabrics and textiles. P ...
for a proper fit in her absence.
The
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
claimed: "She's also a couture philanthropist. She has just do world will this week disclose how a disastrous marriage to a Saudi Royal family adviser drove her to depression and attempted suicide."
Published works
*
References
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayoub, Mouna
1957 births
Living people
Naturalized citizens of France
Converts to Islam
Lebanese Sunni Muslims
French Muslims
French former Christians
Lebanese socialites
Lebanese businesspeople
Former Maronite Christians
Lebanese businesswomen
Lebanese emigrants to France
Lebanese emigrants to Saudi Arabia
Lebanese emigrants to Kuwait