Kalthoum Sarraï, better known by her stage name Cathy Sarraï, was a French television presenter and presenter. She is best known for being a nanny in the French adaptation of Super Nanny, a British reality TV show featuring parents struggling to raise their children. She was of Tunisian origin.
Wiki / Biography
Cathy Sarraï was born on Tuesday, September 25, 1962 (age 48 years; at the time of death), in Tunis, Tunisia.
The childhood photo of Cathy Sarraï
She graduated from high school, which was usually reserved for boys at the time. She grew up in Tunisia and was engaged (at age 14) to the son of a French immigrant who spotted her on the street.
The image of Cathy Sarraï of her engagement
On September 20, 1979, just 5 days before her seventeenth birthday, Cathy married her fiancé and moved to Paris, France. In Paris, Cathy is forced to live as a hermit by her stepmother. However, she quickly signed up for a family allowance fund and moved to a small hotel in Paris with her husband. She learned French by watching television. Subsequently, she obtained a certificate of professional competence in child psychology and also made an auxiliary diploma in pediatric nursing.
Physical appearance
Height (approx): 5 ′ 6 ″
Hair color: Blond
Eye colour: Hazelnut green
Family
Parents and siblings
We don’t know much about his father. Her 54-year-old mother died of breast cancer. She had six siblings.
Cathy Sarraï in childhood with her siblings
Husband and children
Cathy Sarraï was forcibly engaged to a son of an immigrant in France when she was only 14 years old. Two years later, she married him.
Cathy Sarraï with her husband
Revealing the details of her marriage in her autobiography published in 2006, Cathy wrote:
Funny fate that mine, that of a teenager who endures the traditions of her country. While in Tunis, I lived in the sweet family cocoon, overnight, I found myself in the nineteenth arrondissement of Paris. A real leap into the unknown! In France, I learned everything: the language, the customs, my job… ”
She had three children; two daughters named Eptissem and Najoua and a son named Hamadi. In 2010, Cathy was living with her son, Hamadi, in western Paris. A few months before her death, Cathy divorced her husband.
Cathy Sarraï with her son
Religion
Cathy was from a Muslim family and followed Islam.
Career
Cathy began her career as a cleaning lady in a nursery school canteen in Paris. She then did many odd jobs before obtaining a diploma in childcare assistant. Shortly after graduation, she worked as a childminder.
Cathy Sarraï with a child
Subsequently, she started working as a nanny and educator for millionaires. Sharing this information in one of her books, Cathy wrote:
I have rubbed shoulders with the greatest of this world, I have lived in senseless luxury, I have raised dozens of children.
In 2005, her life took an unexpected turn when she was asked to play the role of a nanny in the French version of Super Nanny, a British reality TV show that premiered on M6, a French national television channel. On the show, Cathy had to observe the life of a family for a few days and provide parents with basic childcare and parenting skills. The show was a huge success and attracted around 3.7 million viewers in Belgium and France, making Supper Nanny a well-known face on M6.
She has also hosted a few other parental coaching programs such as Insane (2008) on Tunisian television and Aiche Naâmil (2008) on the Hannibal TV channel. In 2009, she appeared in Christophe Willem’s music video for his single Berlin. She also appeared in the television commercial for Nintendo’s Wii console with fellow M6 host Stéphane Rotenberg. Besides being a successful television presenter, Cathy is also the author of three books; one of them being an autobiography.
Death
Cathy was diagnosed with lung cancer when she was in her thirties. She successfully fought the battle with cancer and managed to lead a normal life. However, she was traced again with the disease ten years after the first alert. In December 2009, Cathy went to the Saint-Cloud hospital for chemotherapy, but the treatment could not take place. After a few days, her state of health deteriorated and she died on January 19, 2010 in Paris from lung cancer. She was 47 years old at the time of her death.
Minutes after news of her disappearance went viral, her fans across Europe and the Maghreb began to share their sadness through posts and tweets. One of the young mothers wrote:
It’s as if we knew her, thanks to her advice, we brought her into our life… ”
On January 21, 2010, his body was repatriated to Tunis by plane. His remains were wrapped in a Tunisian flag and burial took place in the Sidi-Salah cemetery in Bardo according to Muslim rites. There was a huge crowd attending his last rites. Among the mourners, representatives of Tunisia were also present, not only because she was a national figure, but also because she had once cared for the president’s only son, Mohamed Zine el-Abidine Ben. Ali.
Favorites
- Movie: Eyes Wide Closed (1999)
Facts / Anecdotes
- Cathy Sarraï liked to party in Arab clubs.
- Cathy was affectionately referred to as Super Nanny by her family and fans.
- It was the tradition of his family to marry the daughters of the family at a young age. Her great-grandmother, Fatima, married when she was 14 and her grandmother, Mima, married when she was only 10 years old.
- After her demise, the M6 group announced on their site that they were there with Cathy’s family in their difficult times and also announced a special show on their channel in tribute to Cathy.
- A week before her death, Cathy was planning a trip to Fiji with her friend Aouatef. She also planned to travel to Istanbul for a week for shopping and a frenzied outing.
- In a conversation with her agent, Switzerland-based Amir Zogib, just 5 days before her death, Cathy said she was recovering and couldn’t wait to have lunch with him in Paris.
