Imran Khan takes bride No 3
As he marries again we look at how former cricketer Imran Khan’s life and times can be plotted through his choice of wives
HE WAS once the darling of the sports world, a suavely handsome, superbly talented cricketer who inspired a team and had people swooning the world over. But Imran Khan has left the life of the playboy sportsman far behind as he follows his dream of becoming Pakistan’s prime minister – and nowhere is his remarkable transformation more evident than in his hat-trick of brides.
The former Pakistan cricket captain has just taken his third wife, Bushra Wattoo – and their formal wedding portrait is a far cry from the paparazzi-style shots of him with wife No 1, British heiress Jemima Goldsmith, in 1995 and the regally elegant pictures taken with wife No 2, Reham Khan, 20 years later.
On her wedding day Jemima cut a dazzling figure, all flowing tawny locks, shy smile and clingy white suit.
Imran’s wedding to Reham was a more modest affair. The bride wore a headscarf, her striking face beaming and the overall effect undeniably glamorous.
In stark contrast, third wife Bushra is clad head to toe in unassuming grey with a red veil covering her face. At her side her groom, wearing a dark blazer over a white salwar kameez (traditional outfit of pants and tunic), looks every inch the seasoned statesman.
But where Imran goes, controversy is never far behind, and despite the demure family portrait the wedding has been mired in scandal and slurs.
Second wife Reham has been scathing about the wedding picture, saying it goes to show just how out of touch her ex is with modern Pakistan.
“To have a woman veiled head to toe, he’s alienated a lot of people,” she told the Daily Mail. “It hasn’t gone down well. Four months before the Pakistan election this is political suicide.”
She also said her ex-husband cheated on her – an accusation that comes amid rumours he caused the break-up of Bushra’s first marriage.
Imran (65) rushed to shut down the rumour mill as he stepped up his election campaign, urging the public to respect his new wife’s “very conservative” family.
“All I ask of my well-wishers and supporters is that they pray I find personal happiness which, except for a few years, I’ve been deprived of,” he tweeted.
IMRAN is widely regarded as one of the world’s best-ever all-rounders and Pakistan’s greatest cricketer.
The formidable bowler and brilliant batsman became a cult figure in his country after leading an inexperienced national 11 to an inspired World Cup victory in 1992. At 39 he was no spring chicken then, making the victory even more remarkable.
Imran, born to a well-off family in Lahore, went to boarding school in England and later attended Oxford University. His sporting prowess catapulted him into the highest echelons of British society and three years after his World Cup glory he married heiress Jemima Goldsmith, the beautiful daughter of financier James Goldsmith. At 21 she was half Imran’s age.
Jemima, a close friend of Princess Diana, converted to Islam and the newlyweds moved to Pakistan, where she learnt Urdu and threw herself into philanthropy and political causes close to her heart. She also began writing for the British media, set up a fashion label and even tried her hand at developing her own brand of ketchup.
She and Imran have two sons, Sulaiman Isa (21) and Qasim (18).
But life in Pakistan wasn’t easy for her. When Imran left for England aged 18 his mother warned him, “Don’t bring home an English wife – it’ll be difficult for her to adjust to our religion and culture.”
And so it proved to be. Jemima came in for a lot of flak because of her Jewish ancestry and as Imran’s political influence grew she was subject to abuse by his opponents and religious leaders. In 2004 they announced they were splitting.
Years later, Imran said he believed Jemima was probably too young and inexperienced to handle the challenges of his political career.
Yet it seems there are no hard feelings. Jemima (44) and Imran have remained friends and around the time of his second marriage she tweeted, “I’ll always love Pakistan. Thanks to my sons and the love I’ve been shown there, I’ll always feel like an honorary Pakistani.”
Reham (44), a Libyan-born, Englandraised broadcast journalist, met Imran when she interviewed him for a TV show after moving to Pakistan in 2012. Their romance was kept a secret until the end of 2014 when Jemima announced she was going to revert to her maiden name because Imran wanted to remarry. The ceremony took place at his elegant home in Islamabad.
Like Jemima, Reham discovered it was no simple matter being married to a national icon and their union lasted just 10 months. After her divorce she claimed she’d been subjected to a hate campaign and had faced a barrage of abuse.
Opponents lambasted her for using her husband’s fame to promote her own agenda. She was also accused of cooking pork sausages and criticised for wearing skimpy clothes.
IF HER red bridal veil is anything to go by, wearing racy clothes is one thing Bushra won’t be accused of. A photo floating about online of Bushra’s face is almost biblical in its simplicity and timelessness: a blurry image of an attractive woman in a head scarf.
But not much is known about the new Mrs Khan other than she’s the mother of five children, she’s Imran’s spiritual healer and she’s in her forties.
Bushra, also known as Pinki Pir, divorced her first husband, Khawar Fareed Maneka, last year but both Imran and Khawar have denied Imran was the cause of the split.
Reham is having none of it. She told the British Times newspaper the pair had been having an affair for years, adding Imran “is not a truthful man”.
She also laid into Bushra’s wedding outfit. “This kind of veil is uncommon. Its cringeworthy.”
Imran may have been hoping his choice of bride would aid his political ambitions, as Bushra’s conservative roots chime nicely with his own agenda.
But again Reham is scathing about his intentions, describing the wedding as a publicity stunt. “I think he’s trying to achieve his departure or shift from Soho to Sufism. It hasn’t worked, if that’s what he’s trying to do. It’s not fooling anyone.”
Imran, who’s a member of Pakistan’s Taherik-e-Insaf party, stood for the office of prime minister in 2013 but was defeated at the polls.
He’s since been painstakingly cultivating an image of squeaky-clean devoutness, wearing prayer beads and quoting scripture in a bid to woo the country’s conservative voter base.
His chances of taking the top job have never been as good after prime minister Nawaz Sharif was booted out of office last year by Pakistan’s supreme court for concealing financial assets.
In such a political climate Imran must be delighted the new Mrs Khan is someone he can turn to for spiritual guidance. Sounds as if he might need it.