A woman from Lincoln who left her husband and children to marry an Egyptian man says she now regrets wasting six years of her life. Julia Clark, 53, from Lincoln, had been married to Peter, also 53, for 15 years and they had three children together.

After they went on a family holiday to Egypt in August 2016, Julia’s life changed completely. She told her story to OK! Magazine

“Sitting around the side of the pool, my husband Peter and two daughters, Melissa and Ameila, relaxed in the water. Our two-week holiday in Egypt was coming to an end and we were making the most of our final few days in the August heat,” she said.

“But, while we’d all had a laugh and were coming back with gorgeous photos, I couldn’t help but feel lonely. It felt like my relationship had gone stale. I’d been married to my husband for 15 years and he was a good man, a brilliant father to our children James, now 34, Melissa, 21, and Amelia, 18, and provided for me, but it felt like we were just there for the kids.

“It was on that holiday in 2016 that everything changed. As I sat there watching my family, a hotel worker approached me and asked for my name. He wanted to know how I was and asked if I was on Facebook. I gave him my name and introduced him to Peter, who had got out of the pool. I didn’t think anything of it until we headed home.

“After being home for a few days, I received a friend request from the man I’d met by the pool, which I accepted. I liked some of his posts, including ones with his friends in, which is when I first saw Ahmed. He must have seen me liking the posts and sent me a friend request himself. I don’t know why I accepted it, but I did.

“For days nothing came through, not even a hello. Then he sent a message saying, “Hi. How are you?” We started talking in October 2016, just about my life and family. I told him that my mother had recently suffered a heart attack. I felt that I could confide in him and he was there for me.

“After four weeks of talking, Ahmed, now 35, suggested we do a video call. It was great to see his face – he was friendly and smiley. From then, we video-called two to three times a week and messaged every day.

“At first, he was just being friendly, but three months in he started to say that he was falling in love with me. By five months, my feelings slowly kicked in too.

“My husband had heard me on the phone to Ahmed a few times and he knew that if I was downstairs at night while he was in bed, I was probably messaging him. One time he said if I wanted a new life then I needed to get out of here. I thought he was right. I did try to stop speaking to Ahmed, but I just couldn’t.”

“In March 2017, we began the process of getting divorced which was sad, but I just wanted to get to Ahmed – it didn’t feel right to meet him while I was married. It wasn’t until September 2018 that I met him in person. A friend at the time offered to come with me, so we booked a 12-day holiday to Egypt.

“Seeing Ahmed for the first time was very strange, but I felt like there was an instant attraction. He was taller than I thought and he’d had his hair cut so he looked younger. He and his friends picked my friend and me up from the hotel and took us to a café where he gave me some jewellery as a gift.

“While on that holiday he gave me a ring. We were on the roof of an apartment and he said, “Will you marry me?” I thought, “Oh my God!” but then I thought, “OK.” However, I knew we shouldn’t rush it.

“I went to Egypt every eight to nine months to see Ahmed and in September 2020 I moved there to start a new life. I gave everything up – my house, my kids, my family. It wasn’t easy because my children were my life. I still can’t believe I did it. I was a stay-at-home mum – I’d always been there for my kids.

“I was still friendly with my ex Peter, so I told him about my plans and he said he would give me a lift to the airport. We went out for a meal with our girls before I left – my daughters didn’t cry and said they understood that I needed to create a new life. On the morning I left, Peter took me to the airport and my suitcase fell off the trolley so he got out of the car to help me. He put his arm around me, kissed me on the cheek and told me to take care of myself. I remember telling Melissa that I’m sure he walked away with tears in his eyes. I felt split – I was leaving my family but I was going to start a new life and I could always come back home.

“After being in Egypt for just 12 days, we married in Cairo at the embassy with a translator present. Ahmed told me not to wear anything special because it was a low-key day, so I wore a long white dress with leaves on it. Afterwards, one of his friends drove us to Ahmed’s sister’s house and she laid on all of this food, which was beautiful.

“From then on things went downhill. Ahmed wasn’t bothered about holding my hand in public any more 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.

“In February 2022, he took me to a café that I loved. It was beautiful, but he dropped a bombshell on me. 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. I felt stupid. My ex Peter was a good man. I gave Ahmed everything. I gave him the world. I’d wasted six years of my life.

“By July 2022, Ahmed had left our apartment and we divorced in September 2022. I returned to the UK in November 2023 for my daughter’s 18th birthday and I stayed for six weeks before heading back to Egypt because I still had an apartment there. I came back to the UK in January this year to live in Lincoln again, although I was sad to move back because I missed the people and culture over there.

“I still think there’s someone out there for me, but there’s no chance of a reconciliation with Peter. 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.”

Ahmed says: “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.”