Egyptian actress, Rania Youssef In an Arabstoday exclusive, Rania Youssef has revealed shocking details about her marriage to former husband Kareem El Shabrawy, where she even accuses him of slipping hashish, an illegal drug, into her car that led to her arrest.
\"I regret my relationship with him after he deceived me about so many things...but my career is not affected as I separated work from my personal life,\" said the star.
She also said that her friends in the entertainment industry helped her through her problems.
Following is our interview with the acclaimed Egyptian actress.
Arabstoday: How are things after the \"hashish\" incident?
Rania Youssed: I’m still waiting for the lab report, which will prove that someone else made use of the car. I’m also waiting for the Kasr El Nile (Nile Palace) prosecution office to call my ex-husband for interrogation, which I don\'t know why hasn\'t happened yet! I don’t know whether it’s because of the police station and the prosecutor\'s office being busy with what’s going on in Tahrir Square, as it is within their jurisdiction, or because of my ex-husband’s influence which prevents any executive authority from getting to him.
AT: How did you get arrested?
RY: That  day, I was surprised to find police coming to the  garage of my building in Zamalek, telling me they received an anonymous phone call about the presence of automatic weapons in a car that matched the description of my vehicle. I had a strange feeling when the officer told me my ex-husband was behind the accusation, so I asked the officer if i could search the car myself, which is exactly the opposite of what was published about the police searching my car, and I found a quantity of hashish they said was about 40gm. Of course I denied knowing about it, and accused my ex-husband Kareem El Shabrawy of planting it in the car.
AT: And why exactly are you accusing him?
RY: Because he has a copy of the keys to my car other than the one I have and another I keep in the garage, so the car is always open and it’s easy for him to plant such things in my car.
AT: But what is his motive?
RY: Because he owes me close to 2 million EGP, the value of what I earned throughout my career, that I’ve paid for him in cases filed against him where he was jailed for days. All of that was to help him, and he promises to pay me back as soon as possible.
AT: Before this incident, you filed a complaint and asked for restraining order, why was that?
RY: Because of the threats I received from him recently. I was shocked by his text messages to my mobile, where he threatened to throw acid on my face, burn my heart over my children...all of this will be proved through the cellphone company\'s records. He also tried beating me in one of Mohandessin\'s streets in front of pedestrians, who testified with me. That’s what made me file the complaint and ask for a restraining order against him and his parents...his mother also brought some thugs and threw me out of my apartment which was the reason I asked for divorce at the time as he didn’t object to her behaviour.
AT: Was he tracking your movements?
RY: Actually, he planted bugs inside my car, as well as a GPS tracking device to find out where I was. That was all proved in a report in the police department when the electrician removed them from my car and testified with me.
AT: What made you announce that your ex-husband was backed by powerful people?
RY: Look at what has happened to me, and nobody is stopping him or even questioning him. I also know that he has many connections that leave him virtually untouchable, in addition to his mother’s connections. What I don’t know is its limits and how powerful they are that prevents any executive authority from approaching him!
AT: Do you regret this phase of your life?
RY: I regret it the most...what’s really strange is that I was deceived by this person. He lied to me about everything! For example, he told me he has a major degree, but in reality he has none...he even lied about his name! He said his name was Kareem but at the end I discovered it was Abdel Hakam. His age as well, he said he was 36 and I later discovered he\'s only 30 years old. Anyway, in the end we all learn from our mistakes.
AT: How did you get support from the people around you?
RY: That’s exactly what eased my crisis where everyone in the industry supported me, and all the cast of my new show \"Red Lines\" called me.
AT: Is this problem going to affect your role in the series?
RY: I’ll never let that happen. I now have more experience on how to separate my personal life and my work. I’m committed to all the dates fixed for the shooting scheduled to finish next July to be released in Ramadan.
The show stars Ahmed El Sakka, Ahmed Rizk, Fadia Abdel Ghany, Abdel Aziz Makhyoun, Haggag Abdel Azim and Mohamed Emam. It is written by Ahmed Mahmoud Abu Zeid and directed by Ahmed Shafik.