SAEDNEWS: A trove of memoirs, Western reports, and palace insiders reveal Mohammad Reza Shah’s obsessive fixation on blonde women—and alleged patronage of exclusive European brothels—painting a picture of moral decay at the heart of the Pahlavi dynasty.
According to Saed News, accounts from friends, palace insiders, and Western journalists chronicle a disturbing narrative: Mohammad Reza Shah exhibited an insatiable appetite for blonde women, maintained by an inner circle of actresses, hostesses, and models known for their fair locks. A French psychologist linked to the Pahlavi family attributes this compulsion to childhood trauma, citing the Shah’s strict upbringing under authoritarian parents and stern European tutors, which purportedly drove his later sexual excesses as attempts to fill an emotional void.
Oriana Fallaci, in Interview with History, famously remarked, “If there is one king always spoken of in connection with women, it is Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.” Court memoirs echo that even his aging paramours were indulged—“without them, we’d have been utterly destroyed,” he allegedly confided. His mother, the Empress Dowager, recalled his fascination with blonde Lufthansa stewardesses during youth, and the court reportedly spent lavish sums to accommodate his whims.
Western press of the era weighed in loudly. His 1948 London visit sparked rumors involving Hollywood icon Rita Hayworth, followed by extensive scandal over his connection to half-Chilean performer Francesca Scaffa—who was rumoured to have been invited to Tehran as a prospective queen consort, scandalizing tabloids across Europe.
Later reports from journalist Fereydoun Hoveyda describe secret sojourns to Paris nightclubs, where the Shah lavished gifts on escorts introduced by friends. William Stadiem’s unauthorized memoir of the infamous Madame Claude—the madame of Paris’s top bordello—lists the Shah among her elite clientele, alongside Gaddafi, JFK, and Brando, and describes him as “a close friend, part of our extended family.” According to royal court secretary Asadollah Alam, facilitating such sexual liaisons—including the recruitment of both Iranian and foreign women—was considered an official duty.
Even the Pahlavi sisters, Shams and Ashraf, were allegedly complicit—allowing high-priced couriers to export national cultural treasures in sealed royal crates in exchange for financial favors. Together, these revelations cast a startling light on a monarch whose public majesty masked a private world rife with indulgence, privilege, and ethical erosion—elements that helped fuel public disillusionment in the final years of his reign.
