World Music Singer
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$65 Million
“A girl should be two things; who and what she wants.” Haifa Wehbe ascended to fame in her home country of Lebanon when she won runner-up in the Miss Lebanon competition. While that title was revoked, Wehbe went on to even bigger and better things.
Haifa Wehbe is a Lebanese pop star and has released seven studio albums. She’s also acted in the 2008 film, Sea of Stars. Here’s a closer look at the journey of this talented and famously beautiful celebrity.
A Beauty is Born
Haifa Mohammed Wehbe was born in the small farming town of Mahrouna, Lebanon on March 10, 1976 to an Egyptian mother and Lebanese father. She was raised in Beirut, and loved listening to jazz and blues music as a child. When Wehbe was just 16, she won the title of Miss South Lebanon. While she went on to be declared runner-up at the Miss Lebanon competition in 1995, the title was revoked because she’d previously been married and had a child.
Still, competing in the pageant opened doors for the world music singer, and she focused her attention on her music and acting career. Wehbe’s debut album was Houwa El-Zaman, followed by her second studio album, Baddi Eesh. The title single off the album was released after the assassination of politician and was about freedom as a basic human right. Another single off the album, “Bus al-Wawa,” was later used in a Pepsi commercial and also received Radio Scope and Sawt Al Musika’s "Song of the Year" honor in 2006. Wehbe’s subsequent studio albums included Farashet El Wadi (2006), Habibi Ana (2008), Baby Haifa (2010), Malikat Jamal Al Kawn (2012) and Hawwa (2018). Wehbe's last album was not only produced independently by the singer herself with no record label, but also debuted at the top of the iTunes charts.
In addition to singing, Wehbe also found success as a model and actress. By 1996, she had appeared on more than 100 magazine covers. Her first major acting gig came more than a decade later with the Pepsi-produced film, Sea of Stars. Wehbe’s other movie credits include Baur al nojoum, Roh’s Beauty, and Dokkan Shehata.
Finding International Stardom
As a popular world music singer, Wehbe has toured all over the world doing concerts. In addition to doing shows in all of the Arab countries, she’s also performed in the United States and throughout Europe, including in Paris, Rome and Berlin. Her starlet status has made her very in demand with paparazzi, and she reportedly charges $70,000 per interview.
Throughout her career, Wehbe has also been celebrated for her extraordinary beauty. In late 2005, Hayfa Wehbi becomes the new face of Pepsi in the Middle East. In 2006, she was included on People magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People List. That same year, she was ranked 8th by the website AskMen on its roundup of the Top 99 Most Desirable Women.
Wehbe has rubbed elbows with many A-listers, including Kim Kardashian who was a guest at the singer’s 2009 wedding to Egyptian businessman Ahmed About Hashima. (The two have since split.) Other celebrity attendees included Carmen Electra, Sean Combs, and Anastacia.
Despite Wehbe’s personal and professional accomplishments, she’s also encountered her share of controversies and setbacks. In addition to having her runner-up title rescinded in the Miss Lebanon competition, the devout Shia Muslim has also been subject to criticism because of her revealing clothing and status as a sex symbol. In April of 2008, Bahrain’s parliament passed a motion urging the government to ban Wehbe from performing in the country because of how she dressed. In response, Wehbe performed in more conservative gown during her show there.
Wehbe is a strong supporter of Hezbollah, and opted out of concerts and fundraisers alike during the 34 days of the Israel-Lebanon War. Her assertion? That there were more helpful ways to show support for Lebanon. That same year, Wehbe moved from Egypt from her home in Beirut for safety reasons.
Politics aside, Wehbe has also faced struggles, including with her former record label Rotana. According to Al Bawaba, she threatened to leave the label “for neglecting her and not paying any attention to her work.”
In 2007, Wehbe was involved in an accident on the set of a music video shooting in Lebanon. In the video, a single-engine airplane was intended to chase a convertible driven by Wehbe. Instead, the aircraft collided with the car and took off its front windshield. Wehbe was lucky to escape the accident with minor injuries.
More recently, Lebanese press reports disclosed that Wehbe was being treated at a local hospital for liver disease, and was no longer able to act or sing. Wehbe herself tweeted in 2019, “I apologize for my absence in the artworks and media because of a health problem I have been exposed to for more than a month … Pray for me and Inshaa’ allah, I will return to you soon.”
Certainly, a significant part of Wehbe’s success can be attributed to her talent. But her perseverance has also undoubtedly been instrumental in helping the singer overcome obstacles she encountered along the way. “Throw me to the wolves, and I will return leading the pack,” Wehbe once said.
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