Above: Countess LuAnn de Lesseps and her husband, Count
Alexandre de Lesseps, have separated.
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Updated, April 4, 2009
New York (Tadias) – The internet is abuzz with the news that an Ethiopian beauty has wrecked a royal marriage in Europe.
Countess LuAnn de Lesseps and her husband, Count Alexandre de Lesseps, have separated after the Royal sent an email informing his wife of 16 years that he is intimately involved with an Ethiopian woman in Geneva.
According to Monday’s New York Social Diary: “Alex, the Count de Lesseps has, it is said on the streets of Geneva, taken up with a beautiful Ethiopian beauty who is not only quite a bit younger than he but also quite a bit younger than his wife.”
The Count – whose great-great-great grandfather, Ferdinand de Lesseps, built the Suez Canal and started the Panama Canal, later presenting, for France, the Statue of Liberty to America – sent an email to a friend of Luann’s “saying he was with an Ethiopian woman in Geneva and he was serious with her”, NY Post reports.
And New York Magazine says: “Count Alexandre de Lesseps was clearly always lucky to be married to his Real Housewife of New York City, LuAnn…. But, alas, the world is not fair, and according to ‘Page Six’ the aging lothario found some Ethiopian chippy in Geneva to shack up with, like they always do. He let LuAnn know he was leaving her just one month before her book, Class With the Countess: How to Live With Elegance and Flair hit stands.”
We Ethiopians are so beautiful people inside and out… though I’m sorry for his wife and our sister shouldn’t go out with him, knowing that he has got a wife. In this world money talks, love, love, love is bull. It’s all about the money. If you are short and bold, but you got money, they look at you as tall and good looking (with hair).
Any ways God bless Ethiopia!
There is nothing like an Ethiopian girl!
Voice of experience.
This is not something we are proud of, the man fell for her beauty, yes Ethiopians are beautiful but principle wise this is not acceptable, he should be ashamed of himself, he is a bad boy…
So what? He likes to have an Ethiopian beauty.
Ethiopians are always bragging about their beauty, that is BS. Of course the women have beautiful face, but she has no business going out with a married man 3 times her age.
Is this to be proud of as an Ethiopian? The Ethiopian lady who is mentioned in the news is involved in a dishonorable act.
Come on guys, this is sth we should be ashamed of. shows how empty our culture is when it comes to self-respect and how weak our social structure is. Our ladies are beautiful, but dating older married ppl is very shallow and shows our lack of respect for ourselves and for the social structure. I hate to hear this as sense of pride in the major ethio news outlet. It is a shame!!!!!!!
Infidelity is a shameful act (further to mention its contravention of the 7th and 10th commandments of God – a sin twice over). If we are to be proud, be proud of great deeds. Be proud of Ethiopian beauty that bolsters the soul as it stimulates the heart and senses.
Yes, he is a bad, bad boy! And the new Ethiopian Countess to be should know that she will be this guy’s fifth wife. What does that tell you about the character of his Royal Highness?
These days most Ethiopian ladies overseas involve in a shameful act in their relationship with others, especially with non-abesha and when no abesha sees. I heard a lot about from other people very very shameful. Those who do these things, it is good for them to respect themselves as humans; not only in the face of abesha community. I don’t deny there are a lot of wonderful and well respected Ethiopian women, who can be role models to the rest of the society.
The last thing to be our national pride is what we look like, not to mention adultery. there are many many beautiful people all over the world, not only Ethiopians. Consider the news above as worthless and focus on other more important issues which affects Ethiopians.
This is obviously news worthy from the perspective of the fact that the wife is a reality TV show cast member, and the fact that the Count is a known ladies man and socialite. He is always in the news. So the Ethiopian girl just got caught in the news cross fire.
guys,
If the news has any thing to do with Ethiopians being beautiful, then it equally has to do with Ethiopians readiness to sell themselves for money. I believe neither is the case.
Love is a mock? The girl too have probably dumped a poor Ethiopia fellow of her age…but his being poor…no Count…couldn’t make it news worthy…
First of all, why are all the ppl commenting guys? Have you considered that it can actually be love? Of course, it is sad whenever once heart is broken. However, people divorce all the time. In America, over 50% of all marriages end in divorce. So what’s the big deal? Just because she is Ethiopian? There is northing shameful about it. Obviously the royal has fallen for an Ethiopian queen. It is known in history for foreign royals to fall in love with Ethiopian woman. Do you remember your history of Queen of Sheba and King Solomon?
What I will tell you is actually shameful: The National Bank of Ethiopia having fake gold. That’s shameful. Forcing coffee businessmen to sell their coffee, that’s shameful. There is nothing shameful about marrying a royal. His marriage is his responsibility, not hers.
People,
I am an Ethiopian. I have a lot to think for my country. I have a lot of dream to make people get their basic needs (at least three times a day food, shelter,water,education, and average earnings). That is my dream that is my life goal, that should be all Ethiopians life goal. Let us think and live this way. Anyways, don’t try to deal in detail about peoples personal issues. Have your own goal have your own life and have a wider vision.!
Look, at this time in his life, the man happens to fall in love with a beautiful woman who happens to be from Ethiopia. End of story.
Yes, not only is his royal highness bad, he is also disrespectful….how can you tell your wife of 16 years that you have another woman over email? At least take her out to dinner or something, you jerk.
I never knew that King Solomon fell in love with the legendary Queen of Sheba. It is written that they mate. By the way, the king womanized over 700 ladies and girls (lucky him!) but you can’t say he loved all of them (one of whom is Q O Sheba). And Q. of Sheba went to his palace and slept with him, not the other way round…so…
I blame the Meles generation who encourages money before morals money before faith. Sell this, sell yourself. Unfortunately nowadays Ethiopian women are encouraged to use their looks and marry for money. They have become materialistic thank God I’m not one of those.
Who is she? What is her name?
Hello, why are the majority blaming this Ethiopian Princess? Do you think it is Lordly for a countess to be featured in such a controversial tv show like ‘ Desperate House Wives’? I am sure he let her have her ‘ American way’ for longer than any self respecting husband would have. The “Countess” wasn’t up to the aristocratic, old fashioned, norms of the Count. If anything, perhaps the count found what he was looking for in ‘ our princess’. it wasn’t long ago that our women were known for their reserved nature. the majority still are!
I am sorry for the wife…I have been a victim of a man leaving me for a trophy wife too. In retrospect I am happy he left. He was an ignorant and abusive Ethiopian man. But as time passes, the wife will be okay. I wish the Count and his new Ethiopian princes all the best!
I bet you most of you guys on this blog will cheat too if you have the opportunity. But thank god you are not the Count. I will marry him anytime, because I will never marry an Ethiopian again.
This is a knee jerk reaction to the whole situation. I hear this all the time about Ethiopian women being beautiful and most of this question comes from a married men white, black, etc… and my response to them is yes they are and I’m happy about it. History reveals that beautiful women throughout the world had made power and rich leaders to succumb to their beauty. To mention few King Solomon, Julius Caeser, King Saul, and king Abdullah of Jordan and the list goes on and on about other powerful people. So, I say to all Ethiopians that its anyone’s call and it is not a Blue Moon and every cloud has a sliver lining that means let us be optimistic and constructive in our thinking.
May God bless Ethiopia for ever and ever!!!!
The primary focus of Ethiopians living abroad is to establish themselves so that they can help their home country. The fact that this Ethiopian woman, is committing adultery, with a married European count, is not honorable, and does not deserve praise. The fact is, he is a man with money, and can use his prestige and wealth to have anything he wants. She is an object to him just like his other material possessions.
It take two to do wrong. I don’t think she did it alone. I like your concern for our pride and name. We can change this by helping the country grow and bring equal opportunity. Please go to www. lifessecondchance.org. It can be financial or pure love we never know. Only those two know the truth.
You are all a bunch of poor souls. Some of you tried to bring in your politics in this. You even blamed Meles for it. Some of you attempted to address past private grievances, Others, simply jelous. What is most ridiculous however is that the almost unanimous feeling that Ethiopian women are beautiful or “Princes”. If I have ever heard the most ignorant statement, this is it. I sometimes wonder if you guys live on planet earth. Have you guys ever mate women from Brazil, Beliz, Costa Rica, the Middle East, Portugal, South Africa to name a few. Go to countries where the great proportion of society is of mixed race and you will see beauty of not just the face, but also the body. Granted, my Ethiopian sisters are beautiful but I hate to break the bad new to you all, but you don’t set the standard for beauty of any kind. I am not hating I am just telling the truth. So, lighten up on the collective ego trip and give “girlfriend” a break so she can live her life as she sees fit.
Would anyone of you moral guardiance, religious zelots, or cultural puritance have a problem with this women if she had fallen in love with a poor married man with no money? Would you consider her to be a hore, gold digger or materialistic? I bet you not and you and I would not even talk about it. So what is all the buzz? It is all about him not her.
STOP THE JUDGEMENT!!!
Always with love!
People,
I understand there is moral issue in this love affair story. As someone above said it, it takes two to tango, however, in this case this is a love triangle caused by all three. We don’t know what happened in their life. What is obvious is that the guy being driven by royalty and money maybe into women and having affairs if he had been married before multiple times. It is also clear that the countess was not acting as a countess should be and wanted to pursue a career in show business and he may not be happy about it. In an article I read, he travels to Europe many times, clearly there is disconnect between him and his wife before the Ethiopian lady came into picture. It sounded to like he wants to spend more time on his own continent than U.S. Many things could have contributed to their marriage being broken up and of course the Ethiopian chick being one of them. People fall in and out of love all the time so it is not big deal. When we are downgrading our own people is amazing to me. What is wrong with accepting the complement of accepting Ethiopian women being beautiful? What is wrong with her marrying richest man, royal man, why should she be any less than other European women or other beautiful women around the world for that matter. We are the ones setting our standards low because the Ethiopian woman is with this man who seemed to truly love her. In fact, I am proud when Ethiopians are set at such high standard. So I wish them all the best.
Let us revisit the article and its connotation. “Ethiopian Beauty Causes Royal Divorce..” She is mentioned only as the precipitous factor to the dissolution of a 16 year marriage. The body of the text never mentions her pending nuptials and one shouldn’t assume they are to be affianced. She is just the “other women” plain and simple and is portrayed as more as a harlot and usurper. Since this is an Ethiopian website I see no redeeming value in holding her in the limelight when at best she should be viewed with askance. “the aging lothario found some Ethiopian chippy in Geneva to shack up with” – does this quote value her being? Does it value Ethiopians?
Now to liken this story with the Queen of Sheba is to juxtapose the above quote likewise: “the aging lothario, King Solomon, found some Ethiopian chippy to shack up with”
If the Article was titled “Love conquers a Count” or such then maybe the gist would be altered enough to reflect the Ethiopian woman as a sympathetic lover instead of a usurper/upstart. But since it doesn’t I will repeat what I said above:
“Infidelity is a shameful act (further to mention its contravention of the 7th and 10th commandments of God – a sin twice over). If we are to be proud, be proud of great deeds. Be proud of Ethiopian beauty that bolsters the soul as it stimulates the heart and senses.”
The European and New York media is obviously going wild with the story because Countess LuAnn de Lesseps, from Bravo’s Relaity TV Show Real Housewife of New York City is a big celebrity! Hello? Have you heard of disparate housewives? If the answer is no, then you are not my type. I don’t care if you are a prince or a regular hustler and I don’t care if you are Ethiopian, aisan, white, black, indian, barzillian, cuban…you just not my type.
And the guy who commented that all of us (Ethiopians), just like him, should be thinking about anything Ethiopia 24/7. Mr. I support you in your efforts, but I am trying to finish college so that’s what I will be thinking about. But I respect you and more power to you. But thanks, I have my own mind.
Any ways, I would like to focus on the more erudite comments made by Bliss and Mesafinit.
Some of you seem to suggest that all Ethiopians must think and act alike. Why? We can still love Ethiopia and have a free mind. Everybody is entitled to have a free mind as long as you respect others and be sensitive. Ethiopia is as diverse as the stars. Ethiopians live in all continents. And by far we are the most respectful and kind people. And the world knows that because they live with us.
Think of this young beautiful Ethiopian woman in Geneva for a moment. She is probably very intelligent because I don’t think you get to be intimate with a French Count and live in Geneva dallying with a royal without having some manners. She probably is educated and probably speaks French, etc. Maybe she is a royal herself. Don’t forget that there are many new generation of highly educated, well mannered and cosmopolitan Ethiopians of Royal Blood, who are raised in high comfort in Europe or the United States. Don’t count that out. She could also be a native of Geneva, or any of the world’s capitals, including Ethiopia. The word is much smaller than it used to be my people. The diaspora is every where and the humble spirituality power of Ethiopians is not to be underestimated. Open your mind. The love birds (the Count and his Ethiopian beauty) have obviously formed a close friendship. Maybe she is teaching him spirituality and he is taken not only by her beauty, but elegance, dreams, and simple confidence. Who know? Who cares if she is from Addis or Dire dewa.
Sooner or later, the media will capture a photo and we will know about her. God protect her from harm and god protect the wife Countess LuAnn de Lesseps and her children. And god protect even the Count. I hope Alex’s new romance with the ethio is a bliss and hope he takes care of the beauty in his hand, do not play with her heart.
But he is not my type. I say that because, I told an Ethiopian guy who asked me out that he wasn’t my type, he got really really offended. I thought I was doing him a favor.
Debre Tabor,
Please spare us the bible quoting and finger wagging. As Atse (Empepror) Haile Selassie once said: Haimanot yegil, hager yegara (Religion is private and country is for all). As Mesafint pointed out the last thing we need are religious zealots.
Please do not quote the bible in your response. I have got my own bible. Thank you.
Where is my comment moderator?
The quote that Tabor is talking about comes from the New York Magazine. For those of you who don’t live in NYC , The NY mag is a favorite in the city and it analyzes, comments on and defines the news, culture, entertainment, lifestyle, fashion and personalities that drive New York City. The only news value to Ethiopians, besides being entertaining and amusing, is that one of the women in this Royal love triangle is Ethiopian. My guess is that’s why the Ethiopian media has picked up the story. As to the quote: “the aging lothario found some Ethiopian chippy in Geneva to shack up with”. Obviously the NY Mag is not happy that the graying playboy has dumped a hometown girl. So their language was a bit raunchy, but trust me it was mild compare to what it is written about other scandalous celebrity divorces. By the way, “the aging Lothario” means an older man who seduces and betrays women. It is a not so subtle way for The New York Magazine to diss the old playboy. And to “shack up with” means “to cheat with” or “to sleep with” or “to have an affair with”. You know like having wushima (mistress).
Ende min agebachihu. Mikegna. beka konjo nat, wodedat, negeru mote. Min yiwatachihu.
Lemin esuan tifategna taregalachihu? kilet ketebale yekelelew sewyew new.
Do not be a dog in the manger.
Every cheater-man cheats because there are women willing to cheat with him, knowing he’s married, have children, name …. it
It is amazing to me that (some) from a country such as Ethiopia with profound biblical history would take pride in this. I’m not saying all but in many countries ethiopian women are viewed as concubines, and this bothers me, because they are my sister, more so because Ethiopians have the privilege of knowing your ancestral countries.
Tigist Tigist Tigist,
I enjoy your rhetoric very much but you are misled by your own misconceptions. Where do I start? I am not against this unknown woman in anyway. I don’t even know her name. I am bewildered by Ethiopians such as yourself taking pride in the contents of this article as a presumptive exemplar of Ethiopian pulchritude. I have explained above why this article is not flattering to the lady in question and have expounded on the situational precariousness of her relationship with this “lothario”. (I never even mentioned the children – for I thought that was excessively inculpating) I truly wish her well.
Tigist, your first paragraph is needlessly hostile and I am not sure of your point. No one is attacking you. But again, as a defense, I must add that your misconceptions are replete within your arguments. You cannot litter your thoughts with willful supposition, hyperbolic hypotheticals and come to an “erudite” conclusion. You say:
“She is probably very intelligent”
“She probably is educated and probably speaks French, etc”
“Maybe she is a royal herself”
“She could also be a native of Geneva”
“Maybe she is teaching him spirituality”
We are not talking about what and who she “probably” is and what she “maybe” doing. For all I know she may be your relative or for that matter mine. It makes no difference to me. I am writing about my distaste about the article, its portrayal of her, its presence on this website and some people (such as yourself) taking pride in its smear and foul circumstance.
Kukusha Wodeshiwal,
Believe me when I tell you that I am not religious. What I do know is that religion is both used as a proponent and an exponent (reflection) of morals. And if vice is to be judged then by definition it is to be adjudicated morally/ethically: then what better text to quote than the concrete commands common to all 3 great monotheistic faiths.
I like the quote you provided (“As Atse (Empepror) Haile Selassie once said: Haimanot yegil, hager yegara (Religion is private and country is for all”). I respectfully and wholeheartedly agree with his words. After all, Ethiopia as country is older than all three religions. But do you think for one second that this woman, as portrayed in the article, would be spoken of as a triumph of country. What he means in his words is that religion has no place in governance, commerce, or education etc. Religion is private. But pride in one’s country and its peoples’ accomplishments are patently a public exercise. The news article in question does not even demand the opposite of pride. The opposite of pride is humility. The article is plain shameful and she is at best notorious and at worst ignominious within its margins.
Let me summarize my positions before anymore vitriol is spilled:
1) The article is unflattering to all the personae (except the children)
2) Her characterization (accurate or false) is contemptible
3) Ethiopians and Ethiopian websites should not be boastful of this unworthy article
4) Be proud of great deeds.
5) Be proud of Ethiopian beauty that bolsters the soul as it stimulates the heart and senses
6) Religion and Government don’t mesh well
7) Money, power, men and women do
8) Tigist’s last paragraph is troubling, unnecessary and over-shared.
Dear,
Why are you mentioning my name? I was not addressing you at all. I was talking about comments made by Alhabeshe that “all Ethiopians should think alike”. I disagree. I was also complimenting the more calm and reasonable views of Mesafint and Bliss. Other than that, I think you have misrepresented my views. My view is that Ethiopians should have a free mind. You have your views and that’s fine. And I have my views. Other than that, I think it seems to me that your beef is more with the Tadias folks for writing the article and the comments made by Kukusha. I just don’t see it your way. It’s okay to agree to Disagree.
Always with love and respect!
I am glad you agree. Keep religion and finger wagging at home.
Read what I wrote.
Adkim nachu. All of you.
It is not that she is ethiopian, she could have been from alaska or even from mars, it is love that did all this so stop the jiber jaber & get back to work.
She will pay the price for what ever sin you all think she committed. Why do not you focus on your life? I can assure you, you will find much bigger crime than this. Just because you were not lucky like the girl your story is not on news. Get a life!!!
I am an Ethiopian (an extremely proud one at that) but some of these downright conceited replies from some of you Ethiopians is quite pitiful. Yes, I do think my people are beautiful but its their culture, their kindness and their history that makes them so. YOUR ability to prove that your looks makes you a class A HOMEWRECKER is absolutely nothing to be proud of. He’s freaking married for goodness sake.
Whatever, I digress – I’d appreciate it if no blind-pride comments were made. You’re insulting yourselves and making Ethiopians look utterly shallow and disreputable.
ANYWAY – the Count is disgusting and the Countess can do better. The end.
If you want to be married “forever” pick a guy with a better track record.
They deserve each other and I wish them both the pain & sorrow they have brought to others to come back to them 10-fold.
Perfect match!
Ethiopian women look good early and fade so fast. I was married to one. All they want is money and more money. They only want foreigners for their money. Shallow, shallow and low. The above example says it all!!! weird women.
I strongly or totally regect that beautiful Ethiopian ladys see shorter boy as taller if he has money.It is irrational thougt and un researched really.It is un appropriet generalization ok?