The surreal life of George Galloway as he becomes Rochdale MP – from four ‘wives’ to THAT famous Big Brother cat scene
Elected as a Member of Parliament seven times, he is known in political circles for his inflammatory rants, controversial views and love of Fedora hats.
But for most of us George Galloway – who swept to victory with yesterday’s Rochdale by-election – is remembered for the cringe-inducing scenes in Celebrity Big Brother 18 years ago, when he pretended to be a cat and licked imaginary milk from Rula Lenska’s hand.
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The Dundee-born politician, 69, won a landslide victory in the Greater Manchester chair and promised to be an eyesore Work‘s side, after being forced to drop support for their country candidate Azhar Ali because of anti-Semitic comments.
He’s met before Iraqi dictator Saddam HusseinHe is also accused of fomenting divisions between the Muslim and Jewish communities with his hardline pro-Palestinian agenda. His controversial victory was labeled a ‘dark day’ for the British Jewish community.
But George’s tumultuous political career is rivaled by his own colorful personal lifewith four marriages and six children.
He married teenage sweetheart Elaine Fyffe in 1979 and they share a daughter, Lucy, born in 1982.
The couple separated in 1987, but their divorce was not finalized until twelve years later.
Controversially, he had already ‘married’ Palestinian scientist Dr Amineh Abu-Zayyad in a Muslim ceremony in 1994 – five years before his divorce went through.
The couple legally married in 2000 but separated in 2009 due to Galloway’s “unreasonable behaviour”.
According to divorce papers filed by his wife in a London court, she had become depressed over his “friendships” with other women.
While she was still living at George’s house in Streatham, south London, they no longer shared a bedroom or dined together.
While married to Dr. Abu-Zayyad, he had already completed another non-legal Muslim marriage ceremony with his Lebanese researcher, Rima Husseini, and fathered a son, Zein, in 2007.
They had another son, Faris, in 2011.
Although he never married Rima in the eyes of British law, she fell out when he married the fourth ‘wife’, anthropologist Putri Gayatri Pertiwi, 30 years his junior, in Amsterdam in 2012.
Rima, who had given birth to their second child just four months earlier, criticized his morals, saying: “We are still married according to Islamic law. There is a misconception that in Islam you can have a maximum of four wives, but in the 21st century that is simply not true.
‘Under English law he has done nothing illegal. But morally it’s a different story.”
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His mother-in-law Maha also slammed the MP, saying her daughter was “better off” without him, adding: “Next year he will have another wife.”
But Galloway showed no remorse and bragged about being “up all night” with his 27-year-old bride.
The couple, who met while working as co-host of Galloway’s TV show Sputnik, have three children: Toren Mustaqim, nine, Orlá Dhien, seven, and Òban Amaria, born in August 2020.
She was by his side as he celebrated his victory in Rochdale last night.
Big brother cat
Galloway was a serving MP representing Bethnal Green and Bow for the Respect Party when he entered the Big Brother house in 2006.
He was seen in the house facing Jimmy Savile and pretending to be a cat, purring and preening before licking fake milk from actress Rula Lenska’s cupped hand.
The memorable mime has gone down in history as one of the most cringe-inducing TV moments of all time and was lambasted by Hilary Armstrong, Labour’s Chief Whip, who said he should “respect his constituents, not his ego”.
He later defended his actions, saying: “My antics on Big Brother, which were essentially the same stunts that BBC presenters and celebs pull for Children in Need, actually raised tens of thousands of pounds for the charity Interpal and paid for the wages of an extra case worker in my constituency. So I can live with his cheap jokes.
Rochdale by-election results
George Galloway Labor Party of GB – 12,335
David Tully Independent 6,638
Paul Ellison Conservative – 3,731
Azhar Ali Labor – 2,402
Iain Donaldson Liberal Democrats – 2,164
Simon Danczuk reform – 1,968
In a 2022 interview with the Telegraph, Rula was asked about the low point of her career and said: “The photo of George Galloway in my crotch pretending to be a cat on Celebrity Big Brother. It was completely innocent but the angle it was placed was shot at, making it look voluptuous.
“Big Brother wasn’t the greatest experience, and seeing the photo on the front of every newspaper, including The New York Times, was a bit creepy.”
Disclosure of child abuse
During a heated debate over the vetting of school staff, Galloway revealed in 2009 that he had been sexually abused.
He writes: “At the age of 11, I was the victim of sexual abuse by someone in a position of trust. He was a schoolmaster.
“He didn’t just strike against me and he shouldn’t have been hired in that capacity.
“I’m not saying the abuse ruined my life or anything like that. I’ve had a happy life.
“But it did affect my life, and not in a good way, and not in the way I want to rehearse for you.
‘Every time a Soham killer or a Dunblane Thomas Hamilton turns up, I die a little inside remembering that dirty old man, driven by the same perverse interest in sexually assaulting children.
“I didn’t tell anyone, not even my wives, what happened to me. All I feel is shame, even though I was the child victim and he was the aggressive predator.
“He must be dead now, beyond shame and in a spirit of forgiveness; I hope he’s roasting in hellfire.’
How George Galloway’s political comeback could cause major headaches for Sir Keir Starmer
By Martina Bet, political correspondent
As he gave his victory speech, George Galloway couldn’t have made it clearer.
Sir Keir Starmer’s problems have just become “100 times worse” than before, he told the sports hall in Rochdale.
He warned him that his victory was for Gaza and that he would pay a “high price” for enabling the fate of the Palestinians.
But is the former Big Brother contestant’s threat credible?
Sir Keir’s team appears to have already gone into hiding, and no shadow minister will appear on the usual morning round of TV and radio this morning.
It is perhaps because they know that his victory is due to their own actions.
The suspension of Azhar Ali, the Labor candidate for Rochdale, came after a recording emerged of him claiming Israel was complicit in the October 7 terrorist attacks.
Labor was initially reluctant to disown him, fearing this would pave the way for Galloway’s entry into Parliament.
In the early hours of this morning their fears were realized and they are now probably wishing they had carried out a more thorough vetting process.
Mr Galloway, who was ousted by Labor more than twenty years ago, now has the opportunity to use his position in Parliament to shine a light on Labour’s divergent views on Gaza, especially as a general election approaches lie ahead.
The Labor leader was on the verge of averting a damaging and major uprising within his party over Gaza after the Speaker allowed a vote on a Labor amendment to an SNP motion last week.
But the divisions could become clearer, with those on the left likely to feel more emboldened by Galloway’s comfortable victory.
Political controversy
Rochdale is the fifth constituency to be served by Galloway since he was first elected in Glasgow Hillhead in 1987.
Initially a Labor MP, he was expelled from the party in 2003 for his prominent opposition to the Iraq war. He ran as an independent before joining the Respect Party and becoming its leader in 2013.
He now represents the Labor Party of Great Britain and has been a divisive figure throughout his career. He supports Putin’s Russia and condemns his visits to dictator Suddam Hussein in Iraq in 1994 and 2002.
During the first visit, he praised the dictator for his “courage, strength and tirelessness” – although he later claimed his comments were addressed to the Iraqi people and were poorly translated.
He was also friends with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, Venezuelan despot Hugo Chavez and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
With his latest triumph he has a new platform and wasted no time in courting controversy, telling the crowd in Rochdale: “This is for Gaza.”
But “Gorgeous George” may not be in the spotlight for much longer as he could well be ousted at the general election later this year.
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