Jemima Khan has gone up tremendously
in my estimation following her very public support for her former husband Imran, as well as other political activists, following their arrest in Pakistan.
Jemima has become a lead spokesman in the UK fighting his cause, and other opponents jailed in the run up to January’s elections.
We are now seeing a different Jemima from the socialite often pictured in the tabloids following her divorce. She has launched a Free Pakistan Movement which will hold protest marches on a daily basis in London and other parts of UK against what she calls “General Pervez Musharraf’s second martial law”.
Let’s not also forget that Jemima, a mother of two, already has campaiging experience under her belt, that she has been a UNICEF ambassador since 2001 and and has been passionately campaigning for children and their right to grow up in a world where they can be healthy, educated and free from conflict. One would imagine that she is extremely well connected, that influential people around the world will listen to her voice. She knows she cannot stay silent.
Jemima’s regular news updates are ensuring that the plight of those arrested will not be forgotten. Her account in today’s Sunday Telegraph is gripping; how must it feel for a mother to tell her two young sons that their father has been charged with ‘state terrorism’ and that if convicted, he faces the death penalty or life imprisonment?
Her account makes compelling reading:
When the General first came to power (by a military coup), I was taken in by his declared intention to clean up Pakistani politics and to hold corrupt politicians accountable. These are the same politicians he is now trying to do deals with. Two successive prime ministers had been dismissed on corruption charges (twice each) and everyone living there at that time was fed up.
Regrettably, Imran and I even supported Musharraf’s ridiculous heads-I-win-tails-you-lose referendum devised to give him a pseudo-mandate to stay in power.
I remember I was summoned to meet him a week before the elections, last month, to convey a message to Imran who was away campaigning in his constituency. I was asked to arrive after midnight and was sneaked into his residence after being searched for recording devices. The self-appointed president outlined the results of the impending elections, reeling off the exact number of seats the various parties would win.
It turned out he was spot on, and not, I suspect, because of any great political foresight. Musharraf also guaranteed Imran’s fledgling party a significant number of seats and a ministry of his choice if he joined forces with his coalition of government-friendly parties. Imran refused. He had already become disillusioned by Musharraf.
Yes, Jemima did well there.
Pity they can’t get back together again.
I wonder, are our elections any more transparent?
She is hardly influential. The public doesn’t know her – in Britain or outside. Her relationship with Hugh Grant raised her profile significantly in the media, and I think that explains the relative attention these protests are getting. The media seems interested but the public is largely ignorant about what’s going on. I have also found most of her articles – apart from the readable personal anecdotes – to be pretty generic and uninsightful. She never says almost anything daring. Most of the things she writes about the muslim world (and that’s all she writes about) are well-known to all who care and those who don’t care, aren’t listening on this topic.
I commend her for doing more than attending charity functions or parties. She is intelligent, but I would hardly say that she “has been passionately campaigning for children and their right to grow up in a world where they can be healthy, educated and free from conflict.” She takes part in charity parties and has given a few interviews about some UN project, but that is pretty much it. Anyway, good for her… I guess that her children must be worried about their father and that is enough to propel her to act. Plus, it is more convinient when you don’t have a job…
I will be impressed if she actually gets some sort of job or permanent working commitment – a columnist, position at an organization, or whatever else. Like I said, she seems to have a good brain (even if her views are pretty simplistic) and should be capable of taking on something more demanding. Or else, what a waste of social privilege and connections.
She has gone up in my estimation too.
Isn’t it funny that Jemima was completely silent on Pakistan during her relationship with Hugh Grant, but now that’s over, she’s professing her love for the country again? I find it hard to muster respect for her. I agree that the attention she’s getting for attending these protests are because she’s a Hello! magazine quasi-celeb since the Grant days. In the space of less than a year, she has tried to transform herself from immodestly-dressed celebutante to a serious and sober intellectual and an authority on Pakistan. Sorry Jemima, but it’s not working on me.
Jemima Goldsmith Khan can be summed up thus:
1) Wife of Imran Khan, cricket legend and Pakistani politician (1995-2004) – Jemima wears dupattas and shalwar kameez and portrays herself as a good and faithful Muslim wife.
2) Girlfriend of Hugh Grant, British actor (2004-February 2007) – Jemima wears bikinis whilst cavorting with Grant on beaches and yachts in full view of paparazzi, also wears short skirts, shows plenty of cleavage and flashes her pantyless crotch. A good time girl.
3) Between boyfriends (February 2007-?) – Jemima is the London socialite with a love for Pakistan…until her next boyfriend, whoever he will be.
I think you have to give credit where credit is due. When Jemima lived in Pakistan, she learnt to speak Urdu, dressed in traditional Pakistani costume, and campaigned to improve the country’s literacy level. She also supported and raised funds for the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre, founded by Imran in 1994. She moved in with his family too. It was a huge cultural change. I can’t imagine anyone more different than Hugh Grant. But who really knows the real Hugh Grant, I don’t believe everything I read about him.
She is now supporting UNICEF, has been for a few years, and did not need to get involved with the latest political upheaval in Pakistan. She has a knowledge that Westerners do not and has won my respect for supporting her former husband, the father of her two sons whose future well being is naturally of great concern to them all.
I have no problem with Hugh Grant. But it would be wrong to say that Jemima did not change herself entirely from the “Imran’s dutiful wife” image during her time with him, because she did – and now she has changed back again, as soon as Hugh’s out of her life. Something seems quite disingenuous about Jemima, on the whole. I can understand her concern for her children’s sake, but that’s it.
I think this is exactly what Jemima wants, to be respected and taken seriously. Some have mentioned her relationship with Hugh Grant. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the relationship finished when Jemima was raked over the coals in the British press for her dress and demeanour earlier this year. I don’t think her family, the Goldsmiths, approved of Grant for this reason. He gets bad press, Jemima got bad press.
Since her split from Mr.Grant, Jemima has sought to repair her damaged image and this is a perfect way for her to be listened to and taken seriously for her views. The only thing she has any real knowledge of is Pakistan, hence her renewed passion for the country. I admit I’m cynical too, but I begrudgingly give her some respect because first and foremost, she is the mother of Imran khan’s two sons and this can’t be an easy time for them.
Julie, I agree, she is of intelligent stock after all, and she was supportive politically in Pakistan. This could be the making of her.
She is probably now thinking: “Hugh who?”
Yes, probably! Which is actually a shame, because I’m personally of the opinion that Grant, an Oxford graduate, is an intelligent man. But as a movie star who doesn’t campaign on anything politically to my knowledge, he does not have the right image and his relationship with the press is hostile, so he suffers and Jemima also suffered from that when she was his girlfriend. The path to some respect is paved clearer for her now.
Julie, again, I agree. There’s no reason why Hugh can’t support Jemima if he agrees with her cause, or campaign on behalf of a humanitarian or political cause which he feels strongly about.
I agree. I think he has supported the Darfur cause this year, but perhaps he will leave the Pakistan protesting to Jemima, who I think has become the spokeswoman for the cause in the UK now.
She cares about Pakistan. She has shown that. Good on her.
Julie, I believe everyone should support a charity, I help Headway Cambridgeshire in a voluntary capacity with their publicity, it helps rehabilitate adults with an acquired brain injury.
Ah Darfur, so sad, that isn’t even the right word. Is there a single word that can describe the tragedies there? Well done Hugh, Darfur needs your help and support. Keep up the good work, please don’t make it a one-off. Here is the link Julie:
http://www.ecorazzi.com/?p=2367
It’s good night for now.
Thanks for the link, Ellee. Good night!
I find some of the comments about Hugh Grant disingenuous. I think Julie is just making a wild assumption by saying that the Goldsmiths probably did not approve of Grant due to the incessant attention he gets. Jemima followed him all over the world and their intimate pictures speak for themselves, including her adoring at him at the premieres of his last movie. I don’t think either of them is immature enough to end a relationship due to bad press.
As for Grant, the man is clearly very intelligent. Probably much more than either Imran or Jemima Khan. I guess you have to be smart to go to Oxford on a complete scholarship. One columnist once said: “Hugh Grant would be just as famous even if his movie career did not venture beyond Lair of the White Worm.” That movie came out in 1987, plus Grant has repeatedly said that not acting will make his life simpler, referring to the fact that he does something outside of his work as an actor. I guess Grant, despite his blinding fame, is still a figure of intrigue as many American journalists have hinted that acting is just a part of his life. One reporter once said, “Hugh Grant, who is best known to the public and the media for his work as an actor.” This implies that he has some other career or does more than what he tells the public. Another leading American newspaper once called him a “sexy philosopher in disguise.” I don’t know what this means but clearly I am interested to know more about him. I think his tabloid image is all media-made, as he proves time and again by suing them for libel.
I think it is wise of him to not protest like Jemima, because in his case the story would became about him, Hugh Grant, rather than the issue at hand.
Secondly, Jemima is hardly even a celebrity, as she remains best known to the British public only as Hugh Grant’s second long-time girlfriend. She really doesn’t have a position of her own to influence people from. So, I don’t see how this changes anything really. I doubt the public or Gordon Brown are paying any attention to what she is doing.
I would add that Jemima can speak freely about the Pakistani cause because most people don’t know enough about the country to raise questions or dispute her accounts or hold her to her opinions or test her knowledge – for the most part they read and move on, shrugging shoulders. If she was talking about anything relevant specifically to England, she would either be largely ignored or challenged on her points. But since it is Pakistan she is talking about, everything goes.
Anyway, she said in one of the interviews that she is only doing this because her Pakistani friends are writing to her and can’t do it themselves. She went on to say she wouldn’t do it if they could protest. So, I think you might be getting carried away by calling her a “crusader”… once the issue dies down, she will get back to her life as usual.
Her reputation has not gone up in my estimation because I never bought her media image as a silly rich girl. She seems like a smart, caring and normal person. But that’s it – I don’t think she has any ambition or desire to be in the public spotlight. This is a woman who said her three most feared things are: getting photographed, giving interviews and flying. Imran called her “very shy.” And Grant said she is so shy that when he took her to the Golden Globe Awards and told her to go through the back entrance, rather than walk the red carpet with him, “she bolted like a horse,” away from the cameras.
So, good work from her, but I don’t think she is going to make a habit out of this, as you might be implying.
I heard some of her piece yesterday on the news yesterday morning – sounded well written. Good for her for the work so far. Interesting to see what will happen.
I didnt know she learnt Urdu.
At least she is not sitting back and doing nothing, which is what a lot of people in her position would do. She could just stay in London and do nothing, but she has taken a stand. She should be commended for that at least.
John re. your comments on Jemima being very shy. I’ve read this about her before, but I don’t see any proof of this. This is a woman who doesn’t mind being very forceful about her views (on Benazir Bhutto, for one). In Britain, she is protesting very loudly – on the streets, on TV, radio, in newspapers and as everyone points out, she doesn’t have to do it.
A shy person would find all this a nightmare, and would genuinely shy away from the limelight; something Jemima didn’t do even when she didn’t have a cause to protest, as her red carpet appearances with Hugh Grant prove. She doesn’t appear to be afraid of the media at all. If she bolted from Grant during the Golden Globes ceremony, that was probably down to something other than shyness, in my opinion. Didn’t that ceremony take place after they had a very public street row, and only a short time before their split?
On Jemima’s crusade – yes, well done, but why is she being commended so much on this? She is the mother of Imran’s children. Of course she’d do what’s in her power to protest his situation. I wouldn’t expect anything less from someone in her position.
Jemima Khan IS an expert media manipulator. Look at her continuous stream of newspaper articles, all using emotive language and persoanl attacks against Imran Khan’s political opponents. Look at her proteesting in London, with her sons who look scared stiff by the crowds and noise and holding placards of their father, telling the media she had to tell her boys that their father might be executed. Could she milk the sympathy vote even more? Poor boys.
Yvonne – it is very easy to write an article from the comfort of your home. In fact, most good writers are introverts. I would also add that her writing style is very catty, which is also often something that comes from shy, introverted women. Maybe she does find it all a nightmare, but thinks this is a chance for her to do something useful and good? There is nothing wrong with using her contacts to organize a protest… and then giving a few interviews to keep the cause alive. So, when someone is called shy by so many of those closest to her, including the men in her life: Grant and Imran, then there must be some truth to the claim.
In all of the photos I have seen of her with Grant at high profile premieres, etc. … she is almost always walking in his shadow. And truth be told, apart from this protest or at times to promote UN efforts, she doesn’t really court the media. At the London premiere, Grant said it was very “brave” of her to walk the red carpet because she isn’t comfortable there… and she didn’t look comfortable. Imran has said similar things. Btw. she didn’t bolt from Grant, he was just making fun of the fact that she was so scared of the red carpet. Maybe she is intimidated by the flashy world of showbiz? I think she seems impassioned about this issue because her children must be anxious about their father.
However, I agree with Rex, I do think that she is all emotion and very little substance. Her columns have very little to provide in terms of solid insight, realistic solutions, or deep observations. And quite frankly, I don’t understand why she is being called a “crusader”? That’s an insult to those who really are crusading against the ills of the society. As for whether she is manipulative or genuinely sincere, who knows?
John, it would be different if Jemima only wrote in the comfort of her home but what Yvonne was saying is that she has been doing plenty of other media like TV and radio too. I don’t think she is shy either, that’s not the impression I have of her. A woman as wealthy as that does not have to conduct her life in the public eye at all if she so wished, yet here she is and has been for years and a part of her must have chosen this because ever since she married Khan 12 years ago, she has chosen to campaign publicly for various matters. She could just donate money or do behind the scenes work and leave it at that if she didn’t want attention.
I believe she is a mixture of sincerity and manipulation. I am sure she is genuinely concerned but she also knows what she’s doing, and what she needs to do for more column inches. Let’s be honest here, the press attention she is currently generating around the world (but particularly in British media) for this matter is not hurting her either, is it? For your information John, I have heard that Jemima has projects involving fashion and jewellery in the pipeline, so you could be wrong that she doesn’t want a public life. Also, of course she isn’t intimidated by the world of showbiz. She’s a rich socialite that had experienced plenty of it even before her time with Hugh Grant. I seem to remember seeing photos of her on the red carpet at premieres even before Hugh came into her life.
[…] Khan’s former wife Jemima Khan said she will be joining today’s picket outside Downing Street in London. […]
Rex makes an interesting point about attention seeking by Jemima (for herself). A ring of truth about it as she was shallow enough to esconse with a spoilt boy like Hugh Grant rather than stay with Imram who is a real MAN by comparison.
Last I checked, Hugh Grant was a man too. Imran was also a “playboy” in his cricketing days when he lived in London, probably why Jemima was attracted to him, see how she went off him when he became more of a Pakistani than a Western man and went to Grant instead.
There’s actually nothing spoilt about Hugh – at least he earned his own money and therefore can do what he likes with it, unlike Ms.Khan who lives on her late father’s millions.