Betty Mahmoody (née Lover; born June 9, 1945) is an American author and
public speaker
Public speaking, is the practice of delivering speeches to a live audience. Throughout history, public speaking has held significant cultural, religious, and political importance, emphasizing the necessity of effective rhetorical skills. It all ...
best known for her book, ''
Not Without My Daughter'', which was subsequently made into
a film of the same name. She is the President and co-founder of ''One World: For Children'', an organization that promotes understanding between cultures and strives to offer security and protection to children of bi-cultural marriages.
''Not Without My Daughter''
Her book, ''Not Without My Daughter'', is an account of her experiences in 1984–1986 when she left
Alpena, Michigan to go to
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
with her husband and daughter for what she was promised would be a short visit. Once there, she and her daughter were held against their will. The book was made into
a 1991 film starring
Sally Field
Sally Margaret Field (born November 6, 1946) is an American actress. She has performed in movies, Broadway theater, television, and made records of popular music. Known for her extensive work on screen and stage, she has received many accola ...
as Betty.
According to the book, she and her husband,
Sayyed Bozorg “Moody” Mahmoody, and their daughter,
Mahtob Mahmoody, traveled to Iran in August 1984 for what her husband said would be a two-week visit with his family in
Tehran
Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...
. Once the two weeks were over, however, he refused to allow his wife and child to leave. When she protested, Moody struck Betty. It was the first time Mahtob had seen her father hit her mother. After Moody broke the news to Betty, she got extremely sick with
dysentery
Dysentery ( , ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications may include dehyd ...
. Mahtob sat at her side day after day, watching her fade in and out of consciousness. Betty asked Mahtob to make sure Moody, a medical doctor, didn’t give her an injection as she feared it may have been lethal. Mahtob sat there and made sure her mother was safe. Betty was trapped in a nation hostile to Americans, with in-laws who were hostile to her, and an abusive husband. According to the book, her husband separated her from her daughter for weeks on end. He also assaulted her and threatened to kill her if she tried to leave.
[
She eventually escaped with her daughter. The book details her escape over the snowy ]Zagros Mountains
The Zagros Mountains are a mountain range in Iran, northern Iraq, and southeastern Turkey. The mountain range has a total length of . The Zagros range begins in northwestern Iran and roughly follows Iran's western border while covering much of s ...
into Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
, and the help she received from many Iranians. These claims, however, have not been verified by any resources. After returning to the USA in 1986, she filed for divorce.
Other books
Mahmoody compiled stories of other parents whose foreign spouses estranged them from their children in the book ''For the Love of a Child'' (1992).
Personal life
Mahmoody is a devout member of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), also referred to simply as the Wisconsin Synod, is an American Confessional Lutheran denomination of Christianity. Characterized as Christian theology, theologically conservative, it was founded ...
like her daughter Mahtob. In 1992 she was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa
Omicron Delta Kappa (), also known as The Circle and ODK, is an American collegiate honor society that recognizes leadership and scholarship. It was founded in 1914, at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia and has chartered more t ...
, the National Leadership Honor Society, by Ferris State University
Ferris State University (FSU or Ferris) is a public university with its main campus in Big Rapids, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1884 as Big Rapids Industrial School by Woodbridge N. Ferris and became a public institution in 1950. ...
as an ''honoris causa'' initiate.
She has two sons from a previous marriage, Joseph and John, who are 13 and 9 years older than Mahtob, respectively.
See also
* Phyllis Chesler, who was married to a Westernized Muslim man from Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
* Aurora Nilsson, was also married to another Westernized Afghan Muslim man
* Debbie Rodriguez, co-founder of The Kabul Beauty School
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahmoody, Betty
1945 births
Living people
Activists from Michigan
American women writers
Writers from Michigan
People from Alma, Michigan
Lutherans from Michigan
American Lutherans
21st-century American women