I have never heard of a female artist who willingly retired and gave up her career. This never happens in the United States or Europe or indeed anywhere else in the world. It does, however, happen in the Arab world and in no other country except Egypt. From time to time an actress surprises her fans by announcing her retirement. The list is long and includes such famous names as Shadiya, Suhair Al-Babli and Yasmin Al-Khayam among others. The latest addition to this group is the Egyptian actress, Sabrine. There may be some excuse for the retirement of an actress if she decides to give up her work and devote herself to worship. An actress can nevertheless continue with her profession and worship at the same time.
Art may be a profession of a special nature and this may perhaps justify retiring from a job. But if everybody left their profession and devoted themselves to worship, life would cease to exist.
Usually, persons who follow a special profession, whether doctors, engineers, journalists or some other, carry on with it as long as they can. A profession is so close to those who practice it that it becomes an integral part of their life and only death can separate the two. The exception is traders and businessmen who can retire and let their money do the job for them.
Wherever you go these days, you hear people talking about Sabrine’s retirement. The famous actress did not retire because of age as many have done before her. Nor did she say that she retired to devote herself to worship. What she, in fact, said was that she gave up acting in order to have time to bring up her only son. As I see it, this is not a solid excuse because scores of actresses have children and still continue working in the theater, cinema or television.
It has been said that Sabrine retired while in the prime of life and at the peak of her fame because she was afraid she might not be able to maintain the same level of excellence as when she played the role of the legendary Arab singer, Umm Kulthoom, in a recent television series. Again, this is not a logical excuse because an actress may succeed in one film or show and not succeed in the next film or she may experience a triumphant comeback in a later show. If all actresses retired after having a success in one film for fear of failing after that, then all actresses in the world would have long ago retired.
There remains the constant rumor about Sabrine’s retirement — that she gave up everything because of being overweight which she was unable to control. The young and beautiful actress could have entered a hospital for treatment to help her to lose the extra weight. The question remains: Why did she retire?
