Saddam Hussein had hundreds of mistresses during his tyrannical life, but Saddam’s favorite, by far, was Parisoula Lampsos, at least according to claims in her new tell-all book, ‘Mitt Liv Med Saddam‘ (My Life With Saddam). The book focuses entirely on her relationship and escapades with the deceased dictator.
Lampsos has been living in seclusion in Sweden for several years out of fear for her life. She has her critics, some of which claim she fabricated parts of her story and perhaps the entire relationship altogether in a desperate attempt at attention, fame, and riches. But many independent researchers have been able to back up most of her claims and liaison with Hussein.
The 57-year old Lampsos first met Saddam when she was 16-years old at a dinner party.
She recounts that romantic first encounter with ‘Shaqra (The blonde)’ in her memoir:
On a summer night in 1968, Lampsos’ neighbor, Gina, had nagged her to come over and keep her company while her husband hosted a dinner party.
Then-16-year-old Lampsos put on her pink dress with a matching pink band in her hair and silver-colored shoes. She smelled of her favorite perfume, Je Reviens, and her golden anklets and bracelets dangled as she jumped over a fence separating the two families’ houses with a bowl of tabbouleh in her hands.
A man wearing a blue silk suit and a blindingly white shirt introduced himself as Saddam. He was then a 31-year-old influential figure in the Arab nationalist Baath Party.
Lampsos says now that that she did not know who Saddam Hussein was at the time but that she was smitten by his good looks.
“He had these deep golden eyes. I was attracted. He was a real man. ” she told Babylon & Beyond in a recent interview.
There, in Gina and Harout Khayyat’s living room in Baghdad, while Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night” blared out from the record player, began what Lampsos claims was her three-decade-long complicated and fearful, but also passionate, on-off romantic relationship with the former Iraqi dictator.
The book is full of many highs, lows, and naturally terrifying experiences with the deceased dictator (Hussein was hung in 2006).
She claims when she married Sirop, Hussein stripped him of all of his assets and had him thrown in jail. Lampsos also makes the claim in the book that one of Hussein’s sons raped one of her daughters.
Most people would have a hard time continuing to sleep with a human being that made such cruel things happen to their loved ones. Lampsos, in the book, justified continuing to see Hussein out of fear for the safety of her family and own life.
Lamsos was captured upon trying to leave Iraq in 2001. She thought she would be executed but was imprisoned instead. Finally, she found freedom when she found herself transported to Jordan instead of Baghdad. An opposition Iraqi government, indirectly aided by the United States, had helped in her escape out of Iraq and Saddam’s power. She still lived in fear, though, of Saddam’s henchmen finding her, which is why Parisoula has lived in seclusion in Sweden since her escape.
The book was written by Swedish ghostwriter Lena Katarina Swanberg.
Read More Details from Parisoula’s Book
