Their love story began on paper. At the end of 2017, Dina B. (a pseudonym), 25, was dreaming of directing films, working in events management and running educational assistance projects for underprivileged children. Her commitment to these projects led her to contact Nekfeu, whose real name is Ken Samaras. At 27, he was already a French rap star, and his first solo album, Feu, had just passed the half-million sales mark. A cup of coffee, a few letters and months later, and the two young adults, whom Le Monde met with at length, began an intimate relationship in the spring of 2018. "The first year, it was very beautiful. He was very caring and attentive, we had an incredible chemistry," recalled Dina B. Nekfeu spoke of love at first sight: "I felt a crazy passion. We laughed a lot, she's a very funny person. She had a mysterious side that attracted me." Four months later, he asked her to marry him. They celebrated their civil wedding ceremony on December 26, 2020.

However, seven years after they first met, the initial excitement has given way to an extremely intense conflict between the two ex-spouses, who finalized their divorce in March 2024. Since then, a struggle has set in, around the custody of their 3-year-old son. Dina B. and Nekfeu hardly work anymore, instead spending most of their time in courts, lawyers' offices and doctors' clinics, as part of the legal proceedings in which they are facing off. A new episode was scheduled for Wednesday, January 29: Dina B. was to stand trial in Paris for failing to comply with the custody arrangement concerning the child. She is facing misdemeanor charges, accused of having repeatedly failed to hand over the boy to his father between July 2022 and May 2024, which is why Nekfeu has had primary custody ever since their divorce decree, though she has appealed.

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