It began as a fairy tale story of a beautiful Indonesian model, Manohara (“thief of hearts” in Sanskrit), who married a Malaysian Prince when she was only 17 years old. She claims that her life turned into a nightmare and that the Prince kept her as his sex slave–trapping her in the castle, cutting her with razors, injecting her with tranquilizers, and raping her. The controversy set off a dramatic court case that is the guilty pleasure tabloid sensation in Indonesia.

The public is divided on the topic of this Princess in Flight: some accuse her of being a manipulative gold-digger with mother issues, and others think of her as a tragic romantic heroine with bewitching beauty. She was on the list of Harper’s Bazaar Indonesia called her “Indonesia’s 100 Most Precious Women,” but the existence of this list exists should tell us something about women’s status in Indonesia more than anything else. Wherever the reality lies, Princess Manohara’s career as a soap opera star is thriving, and she even has plans for her own cosmetics line. Looks like all it takes is a good PR specialist to liberate a girl from the conjugal trenches. [Read the full LA Times article to learn more about the debauchery.]

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