Soraya Khashoggi has spoken of the “intense anguish” caused by her nine-year estrangement from her daughter, Nabila, saying she has been unable to see her only grandson since he was eight.
Nabila, 64, is Soraya’s second child and her only daughter with the late Saudi billionaire Adnan Khashoggi, the businessman known as “Mr Fixit” for brokering deals in oil, armaments and property.
“I want people to know that I haven’t seen my grandson for nine years,” Soraya said. “Nabila has cut me off totally. She told one of her brothers: ‘Tell mother she’s dead to me.’”
Her grandson, Layth, is Nabila’s only child with her second husband, American billionaire Jim Cox Chambers. Soraya said: “He was only eight when I last saw him. He’ll grow up thinking whatever Nabila’s told him. He doesn’t even know he has a living granny.”
Nabila, who was sent to Millfield School in Somerset after her parents left Lebanon during the country’s civil war, declined to comment.
Soraya said she had previously endured a difficult childhood in Leicester, where she was raised by her single mother in a council house. She has described fending off the attentions of an abusive grandfather during that period.
Layth was born when Soraya’s daughter was 47. Nabila had earlier been married to Danny Daggenhurst, with whom she had a son, Spartan, before pursuing a film career.
Nabila moved to Los Angeles and was reported nearly 30 years ago to have joined the Church of Scientology. Soraya believes her daughter remains a committed member and claims Nabila and Cox Chambers are among the organisation’s biggest donors, although that claim was not independently substantiated in the material provided.
