Reham used me 'like toilet paper to clean up her image': former husband

Dr Rehman once again refutes Reham's allegations of domestic violence; says she hated living in Pakistan

As Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan’s wife faces a barrage of criticism over her recent active role in politics, Reham Khan’s ex-husband is not one to miss an opportunity to take a swipe at her.

In an interview to DailyMail, Reham’s former husband, psychiatrist Dr Ijaz Rehman, says she used him “like toilet paper to clean up her image” after she found herself harshly criticised by traditionalists in Pakistan who saw Imran's bride as far too Westernised.

Soon after her marriage to Imran, Reham had embroiled herself in a bitter war of words with her former husband over claims of domestic violence. Reham said she had been a victim of domestic violence during her marriage to the 54-year-old psychiatrist with whom she has three children. However, Rehman rubbished her claims point by point.

Read: Reham’s ex-husband responds to domestic abuse allegations

But it didn’t end there. As Reham hosts a television show and seizes the steering wheel, Dr Rehman accuses her of slandering his good name and threatens legal action against her.

Agreeing to be interviewed for the first time, Dr Rehman while speaking to the Daily Mail rejected Reham’s allegations of domestic violence. “Reham is completely unprincipled to have made this allegation. I never raised a hand against her, even when provoked by her hysterical attacks on me during our marriage. She's damaged my reputation just because she wanted people to feel sorry for her.”

“For a woman with three children to leave her husband is not a done thing in our culture – unless she had very good reasons. That's why she concocted the fictional stories about me being a bad husband and terrible father,” he added.

Read: Caught in the act: Reham alters university name on official website

Soon after her marriage to the PTI chief, Reham had said she was a victim of domestic violence and her ex-husband did not financially support her or her children.

“As for me not financially supporting my kids, how on earth could someone in my position working for the NHS get away with such a thing? After the divorce I paid 25 per cent of my £6,000 monthly salary to the Child Support Agency (CSA),” he refuted.

“She continued to claim child benefit and my CSA contribution, even after leaving the country to resettle in Pakistan. I have proof that this went on for more than a year. I certainly paid maintenance for all my children right up to 2014. I would like to see the matter investigated properly by the departments concerned.”

Read: PTI cadres unhappy with Reham’s cameo in poll campaign

Dr Rehman and Reham were together for 15 years before their divorce in 2006. He had put their time together well behind him when, in January of this year, he was astonished to see his former wife's face all over national television clueless she had married Imran.

Fuming that Reham’s allegations turned his otherwise quiet life upside down, the psychiatrist explains that bosses at the hospital where he works told him to take two weeks off after the story broke in January.

“If you put my name into the internet, the stories do not make me look good,” he said. “I've stopped going out socially because whenever people hear my name they recognise me. I've even had emails asking if I had ever beaten her.”

“Colleagues give me looks, as if wondering if there is any truth in it, and I worry that my patients might react badly. I've been forced to go public because of the way the scandal has affected my life. It has caused me sleepless nights and deeply upset Sam (his second wife),” he added.

Read: Opposition uproar in NA as Reham Khan’s ‘helicopter use’ becomes topic of discussion

Recalling how he and Reham met, Dr Rehman says the attraction was at least from his side instant.

“We were sitting at the dining table one evening when she asked why I wasn't married and I said I hadn't met the right woman.”

“She looked straight at me and said, 'The right woman could be sitting in front of you now’,” he added.

Dr Rehman continued, “It was not a love match, but she was very attractive and quite bright. I felt she was someone I could live with. I did not even ask for a dowry. But my family gave her so much jewellery that by the time she left me it was valued at about £100,000.”

Having married the following summer, Rehman and Reham started their new life together in hospital quarters at Guy's in London followed by a stint in Hull and two overseas posts – to Canada and Australia.

Read: Reham Khan seizes the steering wheel

“She was always saying that she hated living in Pakistan because of the heat and made fun about the people there,” he said.

Over time he grew disillusioned about his wife, who he considered to be attention-seeking and controlling. “At Asian parties male and females are usually separate but she always found an excuse to be with the men. She also wore very low-cut tops and dresses which were too short.”

“I'm not a narrow-minded person and didn't expect her to wear traditional clothes, but she often went too far. Many times I had to point this out and she would go ballistic if she didn't get her way. I just gave in for a quiet life,” he added.

Reham’s former husband said she loved to brag, pretending they spent more money on things than they actually did. “She once bought a dress for $40 while we were on holidaying in America, but told friends it cost $400. She told people we paid £100,000 more for our house and said that our £37,000 car cost £50,000.”

Read: Bowing out: Reham will not contest elections: Imran Khan

However, in 2004, Reham took the children to Pakistan for an extended stay and only returned after Dr Rehman promised to buy her a bigger house. But Reham filed for divorce in 2005 and Dr Rehman left the house with just one suitcase. “She brought me down to nothing,” he says.

“She got everything – all the antique furniture that now graces the home she shares with Imran, £50,000 in cash, half my pension and my children. I was left with nothing but a mountain of debts after the divorce, and a £100,000 legal bill.”

Reham has re-modelled herself since and adopted the title of ‘national bhabi’. Although she does not hold public office as yet, Reham’s debut into the political arena with her campaigning for NA-19, Haripur by-polls she became the talk of the town.

However, soon after her brief stint following widespread criticism, Imran announced last week she would not hold any positions in the party, contest elections from a party ticket, be given 'official protocol' and will not attend party gatherings.

This article originally appeared on Daily Mail.