10 Saddest TV Interviews Moments In Modern Arab Pop Culture
(Picture: Lebanese singer, Haifa Wehbe cries on TV show 'Sa'a bi Orb Al Habeeb' during her interview with Tony Khalife, were he uncovered her daughter's story from her first marriage for the first time to the public, 2002 here)
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By Zaid Bawab
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Interviews have always been a big part of TV scheduled programs. Since the early 2000s, as magazines sales declined and online news websites took over, the interviewing style in the Arab world became a bit different as it depended more and more on provoking the guest to try and get a scoop out of what he/she says and gather a bigger audience. The credit goes to some presenters who became prominent such as Tony Khalife, Nishan Derharoutyounian and Wafaa El Kilany. It reached the point where presenters seemed to be in a competition of “who will make the guest cry?” instead of having an enjoyable conversation with the guest where viewers would get to know him/her better. If you happen to be a pop culture disciple and wouldn’t mind to spend your weekend watching an interview with a celebrity we have something in common already. Here is the list of the ten saddest TV interviews moments in modern Arab pop culture in my opinion:
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1-Nawal Al Zoghbi
The Lebanese diva is not the most talkative when it comes to her personal life as she managed to keep the distress between her and her ex husband and manager Elie Deeb away from the public eye for a long time before the troubles rose to the public back in 2008. But it wasn’t until 2009 that Nawal cried in ‘Limatha’ (why) program presented by Tony Khalife on ‘Al Qahira Wal Nas’ a few months prior to releasing her personal song ‘Fawq Jroohi’ and getting the custody over her children. Watch Nawal cry while talking about her daughter “Tia”. Watch (here>)
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.2 – Nidal Al Ahmadiyeh
Although it is difficult to sympathize with harsh and tough journalists, the presenter Nichan Derharoutyounian was able to make the audience do just that during Nidal’s recent interview with him in ‘Wala Tehlam‘ program on Al Hayat and MTV Lebanon. She talked about her mother who died a few months prior to the interview. It’s not the first time Nidal cries on TV as Wafaa’ El Kilany stole some tears from her back in 2007 during an interview with in the program “Ded Al Tayar” as she suddenly played the song “Set Al Habyeb” during the interview and recited some unfortunate events from Nidal’s life. Watch Nidal talking about her mom. Watch (here>)
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3- Shukran Murtaja
The Syrian actress that made millions of spectators laugh while embodying memorable roles in celebrated Syrian series like “Jameel w Hana” and “Dunia” did not fail to make the audience cry while singing for her country Syria in 2012. A few months after the civil war started during an interview with Wafaa’ Al Kilani in ‘Nawaret‘ program on MBC 1 TV the actress lost control over her voice. Watch the Syrian actress’s interview (here>)
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4- Hifa Wehbe
The Lebanese beauty icon is well acquainted with crying on TV, starting from her first 2002 ‘Sa’a bi Orb Al Habeeb’ interview with Tony Khalife where he uncovered her daughter’s story from her first marriage for the first time. Haifa also wept after receiving the shocking devastating news of her fellow ‘Kalam Ala Waraq‘ actor Hussein Al Imam’s death on air while she was in the judging panel of ‘Shaklak Mosh Ghareeb‘ program on MBC4 and MBC Egypt channel. As sincere as those tears seemed to be, in 2010 her tears while talking about her fear of having a fate similar to Marilyn Monroe, Dalida and Suad Husni were nothing but fake after she saw a depressing performance in ‘Absher’ program presented by Nishan on MBC 1 TV. Watch (here>)
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5- Sherine Abd Al Wahab
It might not have been the best idea for Sherine Abdel-Wahab to agree to an interview a few weeks after announcing her divorce. After provoking her ‘Ana wel 3assall‘ on ‘Al Hayat‘ and MTV Lebanon, Nishan questioned Sherine of her reaction to the idea of her ex-husband remarrying. The ‘Mashae’r‘ singer could not hold her tears thinking about how this would affect her daughters and couldn’t continue the interview leading to having her as a guest again the following day. Watch her throw the napkin at Nichan and leave the platform. Watch here (here>)
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6- Majed Al Mohandes
The gentle Iraqi singer does not usually talk about his personal life, but Lebanese presenter Jomana Bou Eid did not miss the opportunity to tackle the subject in her 2008 program “Kelmit Fasel” on Rotana when she surprised the singer with a phone call with from his son who lives abroad with Majed‘s French ex-wife. Watch (here>)
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7- Ilham Chahine
2012 was certainly a tough year on this Egyptian actress, her statements regarding the Muslim brotherhood taking control over Egypt in Ana wel 3assall‘ program on ‘Al Hayat‘ and MTV Lebanon channels did not receive acclaim from Sheikh Abdalla Bader. The sheikh called her the worst names on “Al Hafez” channel after showing a clip from that interview of her’s with Nishan. It wasn’t that long before she pressed charges against the sheikh and won the case with the support of fellow actors and different people in the field. Watch her reaction after she had heard what Sheikh Abdulla Bader said about her for the first time. Watch (here>)
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8- Hesham Selim
The Egyptian actor has come a long way since his role as Sherihan’s love interest in the eminent play “Share’Mohamed Ali”. What many people do not know though is that his personal life is not as glorious as his acting career; two of his daughters were raised away from him after a divorce. Watch his fatherly tears as he addresses them with Mona Al Shazili in ‘Jomla Mofida‘ program on MBC Egypt. Watch (here)
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9- Karim El Abnoudi
If you don’t know who Karim El Abnoudi is, he is the child who starred in the controversial film ‘Halwet Rooh’ starring Haifa Wehbe. The film was banned in Egyptian theatres earlier this year for insubstantial allegations that the film had inappropriate scenes that involve the kid having a sexual encounter with Rooh, Haifa’s character in the film. And another sexual rousing rape scene. Other than the unjustified opposition campaign against the film from Egyptian political and artistic figures, this resulted in the assault of the child . Watch the kid talking about it on Al Nahar TV while Mahmoud Saad tries to console him (here>)
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10- Ghada Abdel Razek
Ghada might not remember this now as she is enjoying the overwhelming success of her series for the past three successive Ramadan seasons. However, things were not as bright for the Egyptian actress in 2011. Back then she happened to be the scapegoat after she declared her support for President Mubarak during Egypt’s 2011 revolution, the same year she was shooting her Ramadan series “Samara” which was a moderate success in comparison to her later work. Watch her in the link below as she talks about that whole phase and losing her temper as she receives an award from ART (Arab Radio Television). Watch (here>)
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