Heini Wathén

Heini Wathén-Fayed (née Wathén; born 24 February 1955) is a Finnish socialite and former model. She is the widow of Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed.[1] She was an officer for The Ritz Hotel, London.[2]

Heini Wathén
Miss Summer Wathén (middle) in 1972
Born (1955-02-24) 24 February 1955
Hanko, Finland
Other namesHeini Wathén-Fayed
OccupationFormer model
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1985; died 2023)​
Children4, including Omar Fayed

Modeling career

Heini Wathén signed with a modelling agency after winning several beauty pageants in Finland at 17 years old. She graduated from secondary school in 1975 and joined her sister in Paris as a model. She returned to Finland two years later to compete in the Miss Finland contest, but did not make it to the finals.[1]

During the Miss Finland contest Wathén met Dodi Fayed, who was looking for new models in Finland. Fayed arranged for Wathén to model for Pierre Balmain's fashion house.[1]

Personal life

In Paris, Dodi Fayed introduced Wathén to his father, Mohamed Al-Fayed, who began a relationship with her. Al-Fayed soon invited Wathén to live with him on Park Lane in London. The couple married in 1985, thus Heini Wathén-Fayed became a stepmother to Dodi Fayed.[1]

Wathén-Fayed has four children with Mohamed Al-Fayed: daughters Jasmine[3] (born 1980) and Camilla[4] (born 1985), and sons Karim[5] (born 1983) and Omar[6] (born 1987).

Wathén-Fayed and Al-Fayed lived in Surrey and at a mansion in Espoo, Finland.[1] Al-Fayed died on 30 August 2023, at the age of 94 in London.[7]

References
  1. Kuuskoski, Kaisla (26 December 2021). "Suomalainen Heini päätyi keskelle uskomattoman rikkaan egyptiläissuvun elämää – tällaista salaperäisen Al-Fayedin perheen luksusarki on" [Finnish Heini ended up in the middle of an incredibly wealthy Egyptian family's life – this is what the everyday luxury of the mysterious Al-Fayed family is like] (in Finnish). Ilta-Sanomat. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  2. "THE RITZ HOTEL, LIMITED". Open Corporates. The Open Database Of The Corporate World. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  3. Harries, Rhiannon (21 September 2008). "Daddy's girl: Mohamed al-Fayed's daughter Jasmine is gaining a reputation as a hot young designer". The Independent. Archived from the original on 12 April 2010. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  4. Curtis, Nick. "Camilla Fayed: My upbringing? Let's say my normal is not your normal". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  5. "Karim Fayed: The sound engineer". Evening Standard. 10 April 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  6. Isaac, Anna (3 April 2017). "Omar Fayed: 'I didn't want to become Mr Harrods'". Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  7. Atef, Rana (1 September 2023). "Veteran Businessman Mohamed Al Fayed Passes away Aged 94". Sada El-Balad. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.