Meet The Winner Of The Bad-Choice-Of-Spouse Award

By Sora Song

Every new bride fears she'll end up with the in-laws from hell. But if you think yours are bad, try comparing notes with CARMEN BIN LADIN. In 1974 this half-Swiss, half-Persian daughter of an aristocrat married a Saudi named Yeslam and inherited more than 50 sisters-and brothers-in-law, one of whom was Yeslam's younger half brother Osama bin Laden--then a mere religious zealot she describes as "not strikingly different from the other brothers." In her new book, Inside the Kingdom, bin Ladin details the oppression of women in Saudi Arabia and within the bin Laden clan. Her first child was a girl and, writes bin Ladin, "Yeslam simply walked out when he learned that--turned on his heel and walked out of the hospital." After two more girls, the couple split. Still, he left her with something: a notorious name.