It started with a taste for skinny lattes and gourmet burger joints but Arab stars are now fully embracing Americana by sending soon-to-be mothers to give birth in the United States.
Among the celebs setting the trend are Egyptian superstar Tamer Hosni who sent his Moroccan wife to give birth in the States. He's even put recording of his new album on hold to join his wife when she gives birth, which is impressively considerate from a man who sends his pregnant wife on a plane for thousands of miles from her home.
Egyptian actress Ghada Abdel Raziq made the same call and sent her only daughter Rotana to give birth in the States. Rotana's husband may be a top-rank police official but like his mother-in-law, he wanted his first born to have American citizenship. Ghada had gone with her daughter for the birth but only stayed in the country for 10 days after the birth, leaving Rotana with her newborn for 4 months.
There's also the case of Khaled Salim who went with his wife to sunny ol California where his first daughter was born, after which he went back to work in Cairo.
Of course, there is an important reason for this trend. The newborn baby receives an American citizenship and all the benefits that come with it. Access to jumbo donuts, coca cola on tap and the freedom to squeeze their cheese from a tube. But we should spare a thought for the mothers, who are spending months away from home at an uncomfortable, even scary, time in their lives.
