Jemima Khan
Encyclopedia
Jemima Marcelle Khan is a British
writer and campaigner. She is associate editor of the New Statesman and European editor-at-large for Vanity Fair. She has worked as a charity fundraiser, human rights campaigner and contributing writer for British newspapers and magazines. Khan first gained notice in the United Kingdom as a young heiress, the daughter of Lady Annabel
and Sir James Goldsmith
. She was married to the retired Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan
between 1995 and their divorce in 2004. For the next three years, from 2004 to 2007, Khan gained worldwide media attention for her romantic relationship with British film star Hugh Grant
.
's Westminster Hospital
as Jemima Marcelle Goldsmith, Khan is the eldest child of Lady Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart and Anglo-French financier Sir James Goldsmith
. Her parents started a polyamorous relationship in 1964 while they were married to different partners, but in 1978, they married for the sole purpose of legitimizing their children. She has two younger brothers, Zac
and Ben
, as well as five paternal and three maternal half-siblings, including Robin
and India Jane Birley
.
Khan grew up at Ormeley Lodge
while attending the Old Vicarage preparatory school and Francis Holland School
. Between the ages of ten and seventeen she was an accomplished equestrienne
in London. Khan enrolled at the University of Bristol
in 1993, but dropped out to get married in 1995. Khan eventually submitted her dissertation
in March 2002 gaining a 2:1 bachelor's degree
in English
. She later completed an MA in Middle Eastern Studies at SOAS
, University of London
, reading Modern Trends in Islam.
i cricket
er Imran Khan
on 16 May 1995 in a traditional Islamic ceremony in Paris
. The couple later participated in a civil ceremony on 21 June at the Richmond Register Office, which was followed by a midsummer ball at Ormeley Lodge. Raised a Protestant, she convert
ed to Islam
a few months before her wedding, citing the writings of Muhammad Asad
, Gai Eaton
, and Alija Izetbegović
as her influences. She also learned to speak Urdu
and wore traditional Pakistani clothes. In 2008, she wrote that she "over-conformed in [her] eagerness to be accepted" into the "new and radically different culture" of Pakistan.
In 1999, in an accusation which was no doubt politically motivated, Khan was charged in Pakistan with the non-bailable crime of illegally exporting tiles claimed to be centuries-old antiques of the Islamic era
. She stayed with her mother for a year due to fear of incarceration and returned to Pakistan only after the case was dropped following General Pervez Musharraf
's military coup
. She returned to the UK full-time in September 2003 to study for a Masters degree at SOAS. Her ex-husband has said that they decided to divorce because he never had time for his family owing to his life in Pakistani politics. Their divorce was announced on 22 June 2004.
. She gained a new level of prominence during the three years she and Grant were partners. A 2005 article in the Evening Standard
magazine noted that while "Jemima's profile" was high during her first marriage, it was "soaring since she became involved with Hugh Grant". As he was followed relentlessly by the paparazzi and featured in print and television media worldwide, Khan's relationship with Grant was scrutinized extensively by the tabloids. A survey of visitors to London in 2005 showed that Khan and Grant were the couple with whom a majority of visitors wanted to travel the city. In 2007, Khan accompanied Grant on the red carpet at the London and New York premieres of his movie Music and Lyrics
. After three years of the high profile romance, in February 2007, Grant announced that the couple had "decided to split amicably". Grant's spokesman added: "Hugh has nothing but positive things to say about Jemima."
Khan has contributed op-eds to England's newspapers and magazines such as The Independent, The Sunday Times, The Evening Standard and the Observer. In 2008, she was granted an exclusive interview with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf
on the eve of the elections, for The Independent. She was a Sunday Telegraph columnist from 21 October 2007 to 27 January 2008.
In April 2011, Khan guest-edited the New Statesman and themed the issue around freedom of speech. She interviewed the deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and included contributions from Russell Brand, Tim Robbins, Simon Pegg, Oliver Stone, Tony Benn, Julian Assange, and cover art by Anish Kapoor and Damien Hirst.
The magazine sold out and the website crashed. According to Nick Cohen in the Observer "Jemima Khan was by a country mile the best editor of the New Statesman that that journal has had since the mid-1970s". Perhaps the most surprising piece in the magazine was "an unexpected scoop" from Hugh Grant who went undercover to hack Paul McMullan, a former News of the World journalist, who had been involved in hacking as a reporter.
However, one reader's letter to the New Statesman published in the following week's edition stated: "Jason Cowley's choices for guest editor to date are surely calculated to aggravate the NS readership. First Alastair Campbell is invited to present his gloss on the New Labour story; now Jemima Khan (11 April issue) gets to produce a variant of Hello! magazine, wherein her glittering friends share with us the contents, not of their homes, but of their minds.
It takes considerable effort to avoid celebrities (and Old Etonians) nowadays, but I don't expect to be Trojan-horsed by a left-wing paper."
In 2001, she established the Jemima Khan Afghan Refugee Appeal to provide tents, clothing, food, and healthcare for Afghan refugees at Jalozai
camp in Peshawar
.
Khan became an Ambassador for UNICEF UK
in 2001 and went on field trips to Kenya, Romania
, Bangladesh
, Afghanistan and Pakistan, where she helped victims of the 2005 earthquake by raising emergency funds. She has promoted UNICEF's Breastfeeding Manifesto, Growing Up Alone and End Child Exploitation campaigns in the UK.
Khan is a supporter of the Soil Association
, and children's charities like HOPING foundation for Palestinian refugee children. She is a patron of the Quilliam Foundation
, recently set up by two reformed members of the extremist organisation Hizb ut Tahrir. In 2008, Khan received death threats from Islamic fundamentalists for supporting and speaking at the launch of the Muslim think-tank which preaches religious tolerance.
In 2007, Khan set up the Free Pakistan Movement. She, her family and friends, participated alongside hundreds of protestors in three demonstrations outside Downing Street
to protest the state of emergency in Pakistan, during which her ex-husband was incarcerated.
In 2008, she modeled the relaunched Azzaro Couture fragrance and was a guest co-designer of a Spring 2009 collection for Azzaro, with her fee reportedly donated to UNICEF.
Together with John Pilger
and Ken Loach
, Jemima Khan was among the six people in Westminster Magistrates Court willing to post bail
for Julian Assange
when he was arrested in London on 7 December 2010. She has campaigned against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as for freedom of information, attending Assange’s extradition hearings and speaking at the Stop the War Coalition
's rally in defence of Wikileaks alongside Tony Benn and Tariq Ali
.
Khan runs a charitable foundation, the Jemima Khan Foundation.
She sponsors the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism
, an explicitly subversive award given to the journalist that best “exposes Establishment conduct and its propaganda”.
Khan featured in the new television advertising campaign for The Independent
newspaper and reportedly donated her fee to charity.
Khan has campaigned against the use of drones by the CIA in Pakistan’s tribal areas.
' s Annual International Best-Dressed List in 2004, 2005 and 2007. She attended the Women of Achievement Reception at Buckingham Palace, on 11 March 2004.
Khan is known to be shy, modest, stylish, and levelheaded, with her ex-husband describing her as "very shy".
Khan has two sons from her marriage with Imran Khan, Sulaiman Isa (born 1996) and Kasim (born 1999). Because she wants to have the same last name as her children, she goes by Jemima Khan. On 29 December 2000, Khan and her family were on a British Airways jet to Kenya
that was temporarily knocked off course and dived thousands of feet, after a mentally ill passenger tried to seize controls in the cockpit. Her mother later said, "Jemima was frightened of flying even before the incident; she's petrified [now]".
Khan, like her two brothers, reportedly inherited around £300 million from her late father's £1.2 billion fortune (at 1997 currency rates). In 2010 Khan purchased the country house of Kiddington Hall near Woodstock in Oxfordshire
for a reported £15 million, which is now currently under refurbishment.
Diana, Princess of Wales
was a close friend of Khan’s, visiting her twice in Lahore, Pakistan the year that she died.
Khan holds dual British and Pakistani citizenship.
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
writer and campaigner. She is associate editor of the New Statesman and European editor-at-large for Vanity Fair. She has worked as a charity fundraiser, human rights campaigner and contributing writer for British newspapers and magazines. Khan first gained notice in the United Kingdom as a young heiress, the daughter of Lady Annabel
Lady Annabel Goldsmith
Lady Annabel Goldsmith is a British socialite and the eponym for a celebrated London nightclub of the late 20th century, Annabel's. She was first married for two decades to entrepreneur Mark Birley, the creator of Annabel's, which she helped make a glamorous success as her husband's inaugural...
and Sir James Goldsmith
James Goldsmith
Sir James Michael "Jimmy" Goldsmith was an Anglo-French billionaire financier and tycoon. Towards the end of his life, he became a magazine publisher and a politician. In 1994, he was elected to represent France as a Member of the European Parliament and he subsequently founded the short-lived...
. She was married to the retired Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan
Imran Khan
Imran Khan Niazi is a Pakistani politician and former Pakistani cricketer, playing international cricket for two decades in the late twentieth century. After retiring, he entered politics...
between 1995 and their divorce in 2004. For the next three years, from 2004 to 2007, Khan gained worldwide media attention for her romantic relationship with British film star Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant
Hugh John Mungo Grant is an English actor and film producer. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary César. His films have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide. Grant achieved international stardom after appearing in Richard Curtis's...
.
Early life and education
Born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's Westminster Hospital
Westminster Hospital
Westminster Hospital was a hospital in London, England, founded in 1719. In 1834 a medical school attached to the hospital was formally founded....
as Jemima Marcelle Goldsmith, Khan is the eldest child of Lady Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart and Anglo-French financier Sir James Goldsmith
James Goldsmith
Sir James Michael "Jimmy" Goldsmith was an Anglo-French billionaire financier and tycoon. Towards the end of his life, he became a magazine publisher and a politician. In 1994, he was elected to represent France as a Member of the European Parliament and he subsequently founded the short-lived...
. Her parents started a polyamorous relationship in 1964 while they were married to different partners, but in 1978, they married for the sole purpose of legitimizing their children. She has two younger brothers, Zac
Zac Goldsmith
Frank Zacharias Robin "Zac" Goldsmith, MP is an English environmental journalist, entrepreneur and Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament for Richmond Park since winning the seat at the 2010 general election.Goldsmith is the middle child of the late financier Sir...
and Ben
Ben Goldsmith
Benjamin James Goldsmith is an English financier and environmentalist.- Career :Goldsmith is a founding partner of a venture capital fund that invests in clean technologies, and of its sister company...
, as well as five paternal and three maternal half-siblings, including Robin
Robin Birley (businessman)
Robin Birley is an English businessman and political activist. He is the son of Lady Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart and nightclub owner Mark Birley...
and India Jane Birley
India Jane Birley
India Jane Birley is a British artist, heiress and businesswoman. She was a co-owner/manager of her father's famed London nightclub, Annabel's, in its later years, as well as some of her father's other establishments.-Biography:...
.
Khan grew up at Ormeley Lodge
Ormeley Lodge
Ormeley Lodge is a 1715 built Grade II* listed Georgian house set in on the edge of Richmond Park in Ham, London, where Lady Annabel Goldsmith raised her children.- External links :*...
while attending the Old Vicarage preparatory school and Francis Holland School
Francis Holland School
Francis Holland School is the name of two independent day schools for girls in central London governed by the Francis Holland Schools Trust...
. Between the ages of ten and seventeen she was an accomplished equestrienne
Equestrianism
Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...
in London. Khan enrolled at the University of Bristol
University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...
in 1993, but dropped out to get married in 1995. Khan eventually submitted her dissertation
Thesis
A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...
in March 2002 gaining a 2:1 bachelor's degree
British undergraduate degree classification
The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme for undergraduate degrees in the United Kingdom...
in English
English studies
English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
. She later completed an MA in Middle Eastern Studies at SOAS
School of Oriental and African Studies
The School of Oriental and African Studies is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London...
, University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
, reading Modern Trends in Islam.
Marriage to Imran Khan
Jemima turned to Islam when she was married to Imran Khan at 21, Jemima Goldsmith married the 42-year-old retired PakistanPakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er Imran Khan
Imran Khan
Imran Khan Niazi is a Pakistani politician and former Pakistani cricketer, playing international cricket for two decades in the late twentieth century. After retiring, he entered politics...
on 16 May 1995 in a traditional Islamic ceremony in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. The couple later participated in a civil ceremony on 21 June at the Richmond Register Office, which was followed by a midsummer ball at Ormeley Lodge. Raised a Protestant, she convert
Convert
The convert or try, in American football known as "point after", and Canadian football "Point after touchdown", is a one-scrimmage down played immediately after a touchdown during which the scoring team is allowed to attempt to score an extra one point by kicking the ball through the uprights , or...
ed to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
a few months before her wedding, citing the writings of Muhammad Asad
Muhammad Asad
Muhammad Asad , was an Austrian Polish Jew who converted to Islam, and a 20th century journalist, traveler, writer, social critic, linguist, thinker, reformer, diplomat, political theorist, translator and scholar...
, Gai Eaton
Charles le Gai Eaton
Charles Le Gai Eaton was born in Lausanne, Switzerland and raised as an agnostic by his parents. He received his education at Charterhouse and at King's College, Cambridge. He worked for many years as a teacher and journalist in Jamaica and Egypt...
, and Alija Izetbegović
Alija Izetbegovic
Alija Izetbegović was a Bosniak activist, lawyer, author, philosopher and politician, who, in 1990, became the first president of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He served in this role until 1996, when he became a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, serving until 2000...
as her influences. She also learned to speak Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
and wore traditional Pakistani clothes. In 2008, she wrote that she "over-conformed in [her] eagerness to be accepted" into the "new and radically different culture" of Pakistan.
In 1999, in an accusation which was no doubt politically motivated, Khan was charged in Pakistan with the non-bailable crime of illegally exporting tiles claimed to be centuries-old antiques of the Islamic era
Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture encompasses a wide range of both secular and religious styles from the foundation of Islam to the present day, influencing the design and construction of buildings and structures in Islamic culture....
. She stayed with her mother for a year due to fear of incarceration and returned to Pakistan only after the case was dropped following General Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf , is a retired four-star general who served as the 13th Chief of Army Staff and tenth President of Pakistan as well as tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Musharraf headed and led an administrative military government from October 1999 till August 2007. He ruled...
's military coup
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
. She returned to the UK full-time in September 2003 to study for a Masters degree at SOAS. Her ex-husband has said that they decided to divorce because he never had time for his family owing to his life in Pakistani politics. Their divorce was announced on 22 June 2004.
Relationship with Hugh Grant
In 2004, Khan became involved in a romantic relationship with Hugh GrantHugh Grant
Hugh John Mungo Grant is an English actor and film producer. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary César. His films have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide. Grant achieved international stardom after appearing in Richard Curtis's...
. She gained a new level of prominence during the three years she and Grant were partners. A 2005 article in the Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
magazine noted that while "Jemima's profile" was high during her first marriage, it was "soaring since she became involved with Hugh Grant". As he was followed relentlessly by the paparazzi and featured in print and television media worldwide, Khan's relationship with Grant was scrutinized extensively by the tabloids. A survey of visitors to London in 2005 showed that Khan and Grant were the couple with whom a majority of visitors wanted to travel the city. In 2007, Khan accompanied Grant on the red carpet at the London and New York premieres of his movie Music and Lyrics
Music and Lyrics
Music and Lyrics is a 2007 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Marc Lawrence. It focuses on the relationship that evolves between a former pop music idol and an aspiring writer as they struggle to compose a song for the reigning pop diva.-Plot:Alex Fletcher enjoyed...
. After three years of the high profile romance, in February 2007, Grant announced that the couple had "decided to split amicably". Grant's spokesman added: "Hugh has nothing but positive things to say about Jemima."
Commentary and other writings
Khan was a feature writer and a contributing editor for British Vogue from 2008 to 2011. In 2011 Khan was appointed Vanity Fair’s new European editor-at-large. She was Associate Editor at the Independent newspaper which she left to become Associate editor of the New Statesman in November 2011.Khan has contributed op-eds to England's newspapers and magazines such as The Independent, The Sunday Times, The Evening Standard and the Observer. In 2008, she was granted an exclusive interview with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf , is a retired four-star general who served as the 13th Chief of Army Staff and tenth President of Pakistan as well as tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Musharraf headed and led an administrative military government from October 1999 till August 2007. He ruled...
on the eve of the elections, for The Independent. She was a Sunday Telegraph columnist from 21 October 2007 to 27 January 2008.
In April 2011, Khan guest-edited the New Statesman and themed the issue around freedom of speech. She interviewed the deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and included contributions from Russell Brand, Tim Robbins, Simon Pegg, Oliver Stone, Tony Benn, Julian Assange, and cover art by Anish Kapoor and Damien Hirst.
The magazine sold out and the website crashed. According to Nick Cohen in the Observer "Jemima Khan was by a country mile the best editor of the New Statesman that that journal has had since the mid-1970s". Perhaps the most surprising piece in the magazine was "an unexpected scoop" from Hugh Grant who went undercover to hack Paul McMullan, a former News of the World journalist, who had been involved in hacking as a reporter.
However, one reader's letter to the New Statesman published in the following week's edition stated: "Jason Cowley's choices for guest editor to date are surely calculated to aggravate the NS readership. First Alastair Campbell is invited to present his gloss on the New Labour story; now Jemima Khan (11 April issue) gets to produce a variant of Hello! magazine, wherein her glittering friends share with us the contents, not of their homes, but of their minds.
It takes considerable effort to avoid celebrities (and Old Etonians) nowadays, but I don't expect to be Trojan-horsed by a left-wing paper."
Charity and other works
In 1998, Khan launched an eponymous fashion label that employed poor Pakistani women to embroider western clothes with eastern handiwork to be sold in London and New York. Profits were donated to the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital but the company was closed in 2001.In 2001, she established the Jemima Khan Afghan Refugee Appeal to provide tents, clothing, food, and healthcare for Afghan refugees at Jalozai
Jalozai
Jalozai refugee camp, 35 kilometres southeast of Peshawar, Pakistan, was one of the largest of 150 refugee or transit camps in Pakistan, holding Afghan refugees from the 1980s Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. It had an estimated 70,000 refugees at its peak. New Jalozai adjoined the original Jalozai...
camp in Peshawar
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
.
Khan became an Ambassador for UNICEF UK
UNICEF UK
UNICEF UK, also known as the United Kingdom Committee for UNICEF, is one of 36 UNICEF National Committees based in industrialised countries. The National Committees raise funds for the organisation's worldwide emergency and development work. In 2007, UNICEF UK raised £41.3 million for UNICEF’s work...
in 2001 and went on field trips to Kenya, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, Afghanistan and Pakistan, where she helped victims of the 2005 earthquake by raising emergency funds. She has promoted UNICEF's Breastfeeding Manifesto, Growing Up Alone and End Child Exploitation campaigns in the UK.
Khan is a supporter of the Soil Association
Soil Association
The Soil Association is a charity based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1946, it has over 27,000 members today. Its activities include campaign work on issues including opposition to intensive farming, support for local purchasing and public education on nutrition; as well the certification of...
, and children's charities like HOPING foundation for Palestinian refugee children. She is a patron of the Quilliam Foundation
Quilliam Foundation
The Quilliam is a London-based think tank that focuses on "counter-extremism", specifically Islamism, which they argue is the cause of Muslim terrorism. They lobby government and public institutions for more nuanced policies regarding Islam and the need for greater democracy in the Muslim world...
, recently set up by two reformed members of the extremist organisation Hizb ut Tahrir. In 2008, Khan received death threats from Islamic fundamentalists for supporting and speaking at the launch of the Muslim think-tank which preaches religious tolerance.
In 2007, Khan set up the Free Pakistan Movement. She, her family and friends, participated alongside hundreds of protestors in three demonstrations outside Downing Street
Downing Street
Downing Street in London, England has for over two hundred years housed the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers: the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now synonymous with that of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Second Lord of the Treasury, an...
to protest the state of emergency in Pakistan, during which her ex-husband was incarcerated.
In 2008, she modeled the relaunched Azzaro Couture fragrance and was a guest co-designer of a Spring 2009 collection for Azzaro, with her fee reportedly donated to UNICEF.
Together with John Pilger
John Pilger
John Richard Pilger is an Australian journalist and documentary maker, based in London. He has twice won Britain's Journalist of the Year Award, and his documentaries have received academy awards in Britain and the US....
and Ken Loach
Ken Loach
Kenneth "Ken" Loach is a Palme D'Or winning English film and television director.He is known for his naturalistic, social realist directing style and for his socialist beliefs, which are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as homelessness , labour rights and child abuse at the...
, Jemima Khan was among the six people in Westminster Magistrates Court willing to post bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
for Julian Assange
Julian Assange
Julian Paul Assange is an Australian publisher, journalist, writer, computer programmer and Internet activist. He is the editor in chief of WikiLeaks, a whistleblower website and conduit for worldwide news leaks with the stated purpose of creating open governments.WikiLeaks has published material...
when he was arrested in London on 7 December 2010. She has campaigned against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as for freedom of information, attending Assange’s extradition hearings and speaking at the Stop the War Coalition
Stop the War Coalition
The Stop the War Coalition is a United Kingdom group set up on 21 September 2001 that campaigns against what it believes are unjust wars....
's rally in defence of Wikileaks alongside Tony Benn and Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali , , is a British Pakistani military historian, novelist, journalist, filmmaker, public intellectual, political campaigner, activist, and commentator...
.
Khan runs a charitable foundation, the Jemima Khan Foundation.
She sponsors the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism
Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism
The Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, named for the renowned war correspondent, Martha Gellhorn, was established in 1999 by the Martha Gellhorn Trust. It is founded on the following principles:...
, an explicitly subversive award given to the journalist that best “exposes Establishment conduct and its propaganda”.
Khan featured in the new television advertising campaign for The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
newspaper and reportedly donated her fee to charity.
Khan has campaigned against the use of drones by the CIA in Pakistan’s tribal areas.
Social and personal life
As voted by readers of the Daily Telegraph, she won the Rover People's Award for the best dressed female celebrity at the 2001 British Fashion Awards. Khan was featured on Vanity FairVanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
Khan is known to be shy, modest, stylish, and levelheaded, with her ex-husband describing her as "very shy".
Khan has two sons from her marriage with Imran Khan, Sulaiman Isa (born 1996) and Kasim (born 1999). Because she wants to have the same last name as her children, she goes by Jemima Khan. On 29 December 2000, Khan and her family were on a British Airways jet to Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
that was temporarily knocked off course and dived thousands of feet, after a mentally ill passenger tried to seize controls in the cockpit. Her mother later said, "Jemima was frightened of flying even before the incident; she's petrified [now]".
Khan, like her two brothers, reportedly inherited around £300 million from her late father's £1.2 billion fortune (at 1997 currency rates). In 2010 Khan purchased the country house of Kiddington Hall near Woodstock in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
for a reported £15 million, which is now currently under refurbishment.
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...
was a close friend of Khan’s, visiting her twice in Lahore, Pakistan the year that she died.
Khan holds dual British and Pakistani citizenship.
External links
- UNICEF UK Ambassador Jemima Khan, official homepage at UNICEF.org.uk
- Journalisted