 The forbidden marriage between a handsome young Marine and a gorgeous Arab princess — which sparked headlines and a splashy TV movie — has crashed and burned. | Gee, we didn't see that coming |
Jason Johnson made headlines in 1999 when he smuggled his ravishing teen lover out of the island nation of Bahrain, in the Persian Gulf, and whisked her to Las Vegas for a quickie wedding. But after their love was feted on "Oprah" and made into a TV movie, the fairytale romance turned to a nightmare. The groom got booted from the military, the bride narrowly avoided being blown away by a hit man and she then dumped him for the nonstop parties and round-the-clock nightclubs along the Vegas Strip, he said. Two weeks ago, the two filed for divorce. "She's gone off the deep end," a devastated Johnson told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Johnson was a Marine stationed in Bahrain when he fell for Meriam al-Khalifa, a ravishing teen princess who was part of her island nation's royal family. He was 23, a Mormon, she 19, a Muslim, and their love had to remain secret. Johnson sneaked his sweetie back to America aboard a military plane by disguising her with a flannel shirt, Yankees cap and a fake military ID. | Security must have been asleep that day |
In Vegas, they at first basked in attention of glowing publicity and had their story told in a 2001 NBC movie, "The Princess and the Marine." Then the problems began. The State Department tried to boot Meriam out of the country, even though she pleaded that her life would be in jeopardy for "disgracing" her country. | Like the State Department cared. |
Johnson was demoted for his bride-smuggling plot and later discharged under the condition he never try to re-enlist. | "Git out and don't come back!" |
Meriam's family was furious their daughter, whom they had set for an arranged marriage, wed a Christian. The FBI foiled an assassination plot against Meriam by intercepting Reggie Jackson a Syrian national who said he was paid $500,000 by a source he didn't name to kill her. | Everyone knows if you want somebody wacked in Vegas you hire a Italian. |
As tensions mounted, Meriam threw herself into the Vegas nightlife, Johnson said. Last year, she walked out on him. |