Saddam Hussein and Sajida Talfah were together for 43 years following their arranged marriage, but she has maintained a low profile since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Public DomainSajida Talfah during her marriage to Saddam Hussein.
When Sajida Talfah was a child, her family arranged her marriage to her first cousin. They wed when they were in the early 20s and settled down in their home country of Iraq to start a family. Her new husband’s name was Saddam Hussein, and he would go on to become one of the most infamous dictators in modern history.
Despite Hussein’s notoriety, little is known about Talfah. She had five children, enjoyed the wealth and status that husband’s position brought her, and was horrifically jealous when Hussein took a second wife in the 1980s.
Even during her marriage to Saddam Hussein, Talfah rarely appeared in public, and she’s hardly been seen at all since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. She likely escaped to Jordan, Britain, or Mauritania with her daughters, but she has continued to lie low for the last two decades.
In 2015, word spread on social media that Sajida Talfah had passed away, but Hussein’s family refuted the rumors. As far as anyone knows, the widow of Saddam Hussein is still alive and well.
The Early Life Of Sajida Talfah And Her Marriage To Saddam Hussein
Sajida Talfah was born in Tikrit, Iraq, around 1935. Her father was Khairallah Talfah, a teacher and an officer in the Iraqi Army who helped found the Iraqi Independence Party. When Sajida was still a child, her family arranged her marriage to Saddam Hussein, the son of her father’s sister.
Sources vary on when the two were married, but the wedding took place sometime between 1958 and 1963. They went on to have five children: sons Uday and Qusay and daughters Raghad, Rana, and Hala.
Hussein’s rise to power began early in their union. In 1964, he became a member of the Regional Command of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party, an Arab nationalist organization. By 1968, he was the vice president of Iraq, a role he held for a decade before becoming the country’s fifth president in 1979. He was also named prime minister in 1994.
Public DomainSajida Taljah (seated, wearing black and white) and her husband Saddam Hussein pose with their family. Circa 1980s.
Despite Saddam Hussein’s public roles, the Iraqi people knew little about Sajida Talfah. She rarely appeared at official events alongside her husband, and the media didn’t talk about her often.
Then, in 1986, Hussein took a second wife, Samira Shahbandar. Talfah was reportedly enraged, and rumors began to spread in tabloids about her unhappy marriage. In response, state newspapers ran stories that portrayed Hussein as a family man alongside photos of him with his wife and children.
Talfah wasn’t the only one who was angry about her husband’s new relationship, however. Her eldest son, Uday, was so upset that he publicly murdered the man who supposedly introduced Hussein and Shahbandar, Kamel Hana Gegeo, at a party in October 1988. Uday was briefly exiled to Switzerland for the crime.
While Talfah was jealous of Shahbandar, she never divorced Saddam Hussein — she enjoyed her social status too much.
The Controversies Surrounding Sajida Talfah
As the wife of the most powerful man in Iraq, Sajida Talfah frequently wore designer clothes from Europe, expensive jewelry, and heavy makeup.
PATRICK BAZ/AFP/Getty ImagesA painting of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his wife, Sajida Talfah, that hung in Sajida’s personal palace within Baghdad’s opulent presidential compound.
According to the biography of Mayada al-Askari, Mayada, Daughter of Iraq: One Woman’s Survival Under Saddam Hussein, Mayada’s mother knew Hussein’s wife. She said that Talfah looked like “a clown… Her face was covered in thick white makeup. At first glance, Mother said, she thought someone had thrown flour on the woman’s face.” Her hair “had been dyed repeatedly, until it was brittle and a bright yellow.”
Store owners in Baghdad dreaded visits from Talfah. Mayada claimed:
“In fact, if a shopkeeper was given notice that Sajida was on the way, most pulled down their doors, locked up and claimed a family emergency. It was a well-known fact that even with all her riches, which were basically stolen from the Iraqi people, Sajida never paid the full price. Some shop owners were known to go out of business after her visits. But who could they complain to? They would be killed for suggesting that Saddam’s wife was nothing but a common thief.”
Sajida Talfah was also reportedly “cruel” and abusive toward her servants, the very people who gave her the lifestyle she enjoyed. But that charmed life wouldn’t last forever.
What Happened To Saddam Hussein’s Widow?
Ahead of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Talfah and her daughters fled the country along with other members of Hussein’s family. Her husband and sons remained behind.
Uday and Qusay were both killed in Mosul on July 22, 2003, during a gun battle with U.S. troops. Meanwhile, Hussein’s government had also fallen to American forces. His prominent statue in Baghdad was toppled to symbolize the end of the dictator’s regime – but Hussein himself was nowhere to be found.
Then, on Dec. 13, 2003, Saddam Hussein was captured during Operation Red Dawn. The U.S. handed him over to the new Iraqi government to face trial for crimes against humanity. He was hanged on Dec. 30, 2006.
Public DomainSaddam Hussein was found hiding in a small “spider hole” in rural Ad Dawr, Iraq, in December 2003.
It’s unclear where Sajida Talfah and her daughters ended up. In 2003, the BBC reported that they hadn’t sought asylum in Britain, as rumors claimed. A spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair stated, “We will not consider asylum claims from [Saddam Hussein’s] daughters, wife or any other members of his family who might have been involved in human rights abuses.”
Other theories have emerged over the years that Talfah settled in Syria, Jordan, or Mauritania. It’s perhaps most likely that she is in Qatar, but no reports of her whereabouts have ever been confirmed.
In 2015, rumors emerged that Sajida Talfah had died, but Saddam Hussein’s family denied them. According to the Middle Eastern outlet Al Bawaba, Talfah’s daughter Raghad wrote at the time, “In the name of God, my dearly beloved everywhere, my mother and everyone are in good health.”
Whether this is still true more than a decade later remains to be seen.
Regardless, Talfah’s life is likely much different now than it was during her time as the first lady of Iraq. The wealth and luxury she enjoyed for so long came at a horrible cost to millions of Iraqis who lived in poverty and risked being thrown in prison – or worse — under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein.
Even if Sajida Talfah was not directly involved in the vicious tortures and murders carried out by her husband’s regime, every one of her beloved jewels and jaunts to Paris was paid for in Iraqi blood.
After reading about Sajida Talfah, learn about Michele Miscavige, another famous wife who vanished from public view. Then, look through these lavish photos of Saddam Hussein’s palaces.
