Julia Clark took a leap of faith when she left her old life behind in the UK to marry Egyptian toyboy Ahmed.
But heartbreakingly, it was a fairytale that ended in disaster as the stay-at-home mum's love bubble quickly burst. Julia, 53, had been on holiday in Egypt with her husband Peter and their two daughters, Melissa and Amelia, when she caught the attention of hotel worker Ahmed, now 35.
In October 2016, Ahmed added her on Facebook and they began chatting. The friendly conversation eventually turned romantic and Ahmed professed feelings for the mum-of-three. Unable to ignore their chemistry, Julia decided to leave Peter and tie the knot with Ahmed instead.
Only soon after, Ahmed asked Julia if she would be accepting of him marrying another woman and having children with her. Sharing her heartbreak, Julia said: "I felt stupid. My ex, Peter, was a good man. I gave Ahmed everything. I gave him the world."
Meanwhile, Ahmed - who has now been pictured - said: "It was an Islamic wedding in an Islamic country so technically I was allowed four wives. Julia is an English woman and I am an Egyptian man and there are many differences between us in thought and culture."
In March 2017, Julia and Peter began their divorce process, remaining on friendly terms. Although sad, she was looking forward to starting afresh with her toyboy Ahmed, and, in September 2018, flew over to Egypt for a 12-day holiday. It was during this trip that Ahmed popped the question and lovestruck Julia happily accepted.
After travelling to Egypt for visits every eight to nine months, Julia, from Lincoln, finally took the plunge in September 2020, saying goodbye to her family at the airport before jetting off for her 'new life' with Ahmed. The couple married just 12 days later in Cairo but, unfortunately, their fairytale romance was short-lived.
According to Julia, 'things went downhill' fast from there as she made a devastating realisation about Ahmed's behaviour. Sharing her story with OK! Magazine, Julia revealed: "Ahmed wasn't bothered about holding my hand in public anymore and he didn't want to take me out to cafés. He would go out for hours at night and leave me in the flat alone, not having a clue where he was.
"I already suffered from anxiety, but this made it worse. A year later, I went back to England to visit my family for two months and when I was heading back to Egypt, I sent Ahmed a message asking if we could have a good life again. He started taking me out more regularly and I thought that he had changed."
Then, in February 2022, Ahmed took Julia out to a 'beautiful' café she liked and dropped a huge 'bombshell' that 'broke' her. Julia recalled: "He told me that he needed to marry an Egyptian woman so he could have children as I'm older and had gone through the menopause. It broke me. I couldn't sit there knowing that my husband was away having babies with another woman.
"We had spoken about second wives throughout our relationship, but he'd told me that he didn't need anyone else and he didn't mind not having his own kids. We married under Islamic law and they asked me what conditions I wanted to put in the marriage agreement, so I said I didn't want him to marry a second wife.
"However, Ahmed was entitled to four wives, so we had it in writing that if he wanted another wife he had to get my permission which, obviously, I could never give. I told him I couldn't share him. He told me to forget what he'd said, but I couldn't and we became distant. I backed off from the relationship because I didn't see a future in it."
Ahmed left their apartment in July 2022, and they divorced in September 2022. Julia, who feels as though she 'wasted six years of her life' returned to the UK in November 2023 in time for her daughter's 18th birthday, returning to Egypt six weeks later as she still had an apartment there. She returned to Lincoln in January this year and says she still misses the 'people and culture' of Egypt.
Although she still holds out hope of finding the one, Julia believes 'there's no chance of a reconciliation with Peter'. She continued: "I met another Egyptian man before I came back to the UK, someone nearer my age, and I think he truly cares about me. But during times of self-doubt, I think, 'It's not real' because I mistakenly thought what I had with Ahmed was real."