'I left husband and kids for mud hut with my Kenyan toyboy - but things soon turned sour'

Wales Online

6 hours ago

'I left husband and kids for mud hut with my Kenyan toyboy - but things soon turned sour'
Cheryl Thomasgood, now 65, left her husband and three children to be with a Maasai warrior in Kenya, but says the romance was a disaster and she still regrets it
Cheryl and Daniel wed wearing traditional Masai clothing
A woman who abandoned her husband and three children to start a relationship with a Maasai warrior in Kenya has spoken out about her regrets and the emotional impact of that period in her life.
Now 65 and living peacefully in a coastal town in Somerset, Cheryl Thomasgood has broken her silence more than three decades after her story gained global attention.
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Her choice to swap her comfortable suburban existence on the Isle of Wight for the remote Samburu region of Kenya in 1994 was motivated, she now admits, by a desire for spiritual healing and an escape from personal trauma.
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Cheryl was 34 when she met Daniel Lekimencho, a Maasai warrior who performed traditional dances for tourists at the Bamburi Beach Hotel in Mombasa, Kenya.
Captivated by his charm and the appeal of a completely different lifestyle, she ended her marriage to her second husband, Mike and left their three children behind to begin a new life in Kenya with Daniel, who was ten years her junior, reports the Mirror.
Cheryl met Daniel on a package holiday to Kenya
(Image: YouTube )
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Cheryl fully embraced Daniel's world - living in a mud hut, cooking over open fires, and adopting aspects of Maasai culture, including a diet of cabbage and cow's blood. However, as time passed, the stark differences between their backgrounds and expectations started to put pressure on the relationship.
In 1995, the couple made their way back to the UK, tying the knot on Valentine's Day in traditional Maasai attire and setting up home on the Isle of Wight with Cheryl's children. They later welcomed a daughter, Mitsi, now 27.
However, Cheryl recounts that the idyllic life they envisioned began to crumble swiftly. Daniel, who was once deeply rooted in Maasai spirituality and tradition, allegedly shifted his focus towards material wealth and status.
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"I felt like I was just a meal ticket," Cheryl confided to MailOnline. "I made a huge mistake, and I have a lot of regrets - especially about how it affected my children."
Cheryl said Daniel's Maasai heritage meant the couple had big cultural differences (stock photo)
(Image: Yellow Dog Productions via Getty Images )
Cheryl describes how Daniel's aspirations grew to include a larger house, designer clothes, and sending money back to relatives in Kenya. Their arguments became frequent, and the spiritual bond they once cherished dissipated.
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According to Cheryl, the only moments Daniel seemed happy were when he was performing his traditional Maasai dance in the garden.
"He would say that he was getting ready for battle and wanted to jump as high as an elephant. The kids loved it, but it got on my nerves after a while."
Cheryl suggests that cultural differences and the challenges of adapting to British society played a significant role in their separation in 1999, a mere four years following their wedding and just one year after their child Mitsi was born. She admits that part of her drive to remain in the marriage was to defy the sceptics.
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When they met, Cheryl was dealing with childhood trauma and an unhappy marriage. Upon the advice of a choir friend, she travelled to Kenya seeking solace.
Daniel with the couple's daughter Misti
(Image: EX )
However, Cheryl found that the relationship acted merely as a brief respite rather than a cure.
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She confessed: "The biggest regret of all was the impact on my children. Daniel tried, but he couldn't be the father they needed. They missed out on having a stable male figure."
Now, Cheryl has reconciled with her history and maintains strong bonds with her four children: Steve, aged 43, Tommy, 41, Chloe, 34, and Mitsi, 27. Mitsi, she reflects, was "the one good thing" to emerge from her time with Daniel.
Despite the turmoil, Cheryl has no intentions of remarrying. She quipped: "Three marriages were enough," dubbing them a "hat-trick of disasters."
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The mum urged anyone pursuing a holiday romance to "be careful" as you could end up "regretting it for the rest of your life".
Daniel has stayed in the UK after their split and now works in a supermarket on the Isle of Wight.