In the season finale of Real Housewives of Dubai, Chanel Ayan spoke with older sister Ifrah about their shared trauma
Nothing can break Chanel Ayan and her sister.
On Wednesday night’s season finale of Real Housewives Of Dubai, Chanel, 41, spoke candidly with her older sister Ifrah about the traumatic experience of being circumcised as children and her journey to healing.
“I went to hypnotherapy. They asked me questions, what is disturbing in my heart, what I am struggling with, what is torturing me,” the Kenyan supermodel told her sister on FaceTime. “I started to talk about Abo and started talking about other things, like the way we were circumcised and then I started crying.”
Speaking to cameras during a previous confessional, Chanel revealed that the ordeal, which happened when she was 5, created an “unbreakable bond” between them.
“The circumcision brought us very close because we were both very, very young. I could hear her screams and she could hear my screams, we went through the same pain, we’ve gone through so much together,” she said. “And the bond I have with her is an unbreakable bond.”
She then told her sister that the guided hypnosis helped her feel freed.
“Ifrah, it was the best thing because after I don’t have the problem anymore. It’s like the woman got into my head and took all the problems in my head and threw them out. I feel free,” she said.
Chanel then asked her older sibling about her own experience with hypnotherapy for mind-body intervention.
“I cried. I think about just two weeks of crying and forgiving,” Ifrah said. “The worst part was to accept you were young… and you forgive because your innocence was stolen… and to trust again. I feel like crying because it’s such a heavy thing to go through.”
Chanel, who is mom to son Taj, added that while she takes pride in her culture, circumcision should never be forced upon young people.
“I love my culture, but this is one of the things I do not agree with at all. I don’t think our girls should be going through this. If I can talk about it and try to stop it and bring awareness, that’s what I will do,” she said.
In another confessional, Chanel called her sister her “hero”and a “warrior,” celebrating her as “my everything.”
Later in the episode, the reality star revealed to her Real Housewives of Dubai castmates that she had been circumcised, and called it “the most painful f—ing situation in the world.”
Caroline Stanbury spoke to cameras in a confessional after hearing Chanel’s story, saying, “When I hear Ayan’s childhood, no one should go through that. No one, especially at 5 when you have no voice either.”
Fellow castmate Lesa Milan praised her strength and echoed, “Ayan is hands down one of the most amazing women I know and I’m so so so proud of her.”
Chanel told the group of women, “just because we go through hard stuff, it doesn’t define who you are, it doesn’t define our happiness.”
During last week’s episode of Real Housewives of Dubai, Chanel first disclosed her traumatic experience.
During a hypnotherapy session, Chanel tearfully revealed that she and Ifrah were circumcised as young children and their family had no idea.
“At 5-years-old, my aunt and my grandma came to pick us up to take us to another town,” she told the therapist as she held co-star Dr. Sara Al-Madani’s hand. “And then the next morning at 6 a.m., I didn’t know where I was going whatsoever and then they took us to this man’s house and they just tied us on the bed and we were circumcised.”
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Chanel opened up about why she decided to speak on television about her circumcision, and explained that her husband Christopher was a huge factor in helping her confront her traumatic past and share it with the world.
“My husband supported me and loved me for who I am,” she shared with PEOPLE exclusively. “This helped me get to where I am, to be able to open up about being circumcised and raising awareness about this issue.”
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