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Zainab Salbi's Secret Shame: I Grew Up in Saddam Hussein's Inner Circle

Season 6 Episode 625
Aired on 11/22/2015 | CC tv-14
Zainab Salbi isn't the likeliest candidate to be at the forefront of the women's rights movement. When she was just 11 years old, her father, Tariq, was chosen to be the personal pilot of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Her family lived in a constant state of fear as they heard horror stories about Iraqis being sent to prison, enduring torture and being killed for even minor infractions.

Eventually, Zainab's mother sent her to the United States for an arranged marriage. After three months of suffering her husband's verbal and physical abuse, she fled, and, with only $400 in her pockets, started a new life on her own. Just three years later, Zainab was traveling across the world to help female victims of the conflict between Bosnia and Croatia.

Zainab recounts her story in her powerful memoir, Between Two Worlds. If publicly sharing the details of her experience could have resulted in death, why did she do it? In the video above, Zainab explains how she had become "the prison guard for [her] fear," and what she values most about her role as an inspirational figure for women across the planet.