Who Is Jemima Goldsmith, Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Ex-Wife?

Jemima Goldsmith, widely known as Jemima Khan, 50, has been in the news after appealing directly to Elon Musk, the owner of social media platform X. She alleged that her posts highlighting what she described

as inhumane and undignified detention conditions faced by her former husband, Pakistan’s jailed ex-prime minister Imran Khan, were being suppressed on the platform.“X was our only independent platform to highlight this injustice,” she wrote. Jemima claimed that posts referring to Khan’s jail conditions, solitary confinement and their sons’ access to their father were repeatedly limited by the algorithm. According to her, the Pakistani authorities have made criticism from Imran Khan’s immediate circle a top online enforcement priority, and X was “quietly complying just enough to keep the platform alive in the country”. She also said that Grok had reviewed her analytics and concluded that her account was subject to what she described as “secret throttling”.The episode has once again drawn attention to Jemima herself, a figure who has long straddled British high society, media, philanthropy and Pakistani politics.

Who is Jemima Goldsmith?

Born Jemima Marcelle Goldsmith on 30 January 1974, she is the daughter of billionaire financier Sir James Goldsmith and socialite Lady Annabel Vane Tempest Stewart. She grew up in privilege and prominence, alongside her two younger brothers, politician Zac Goldsmith and financier Ben Goldsmith. Over the years, she has carved out her own identity as a television writer and producer, founding Instinct Productions, and served as a UNICEF UK ambassador for more than a decade. Jemima married Imran Khan in 1995, when she was just 21.

The former Pakistan cricket captain, more than two decades her senior, reportedly met her at a dinner party, and their relationship quickly captured public imagination. Their wedding was one of the most talked-about society events of the year. A civil ceremony was held at the Richmond register office in London on 20 June 1995, following an earlier Islamic nikah in Paris, after which Jemima converted to Islam.She was a close friend of late Princess Diana, and had visited Jemima in Pakistan, twice.The couple later settled in Pakistan and had two sons, Suleiman and Qasim. Jemima put her studies in Bristol on hold following the marriage, though she eventually completed her undergraduate degree in 2002.Despite the initial excitement around their marriage, cultural differences and relentless media scrutiny in Pakistan took their toll, and the couple divorced amicably in 2004.On multiple occasions, Jemima has spoken about the difficulties of life in Pakistan. As someone who wasn't Pakistani, she was constantly under public scrutiny. Even after the divorce, her connection to Khan has remained central to how she is perceived, something she has acknowledged herself. Discussing her decision to use both surnames for her podcast, A Muslim & A Jew Go There, she told The Standard that she had included both names in the credits because of her conflicted feelings. She now goes by Jemima Khan Goldsmith, explaining that the combination reflects her personal and cultural investment in the conversations she continues to engage in, with one name rooted in Jewish heritage and the other in Islam.