Civil war broke out when she was 8, and after her family’s compound came under attack by militia, the family escaped and eventually made it to a refugee camp in Kenya, where Omar spent four years before the family moved to the U.S.
Omar recounts meeting her first husband, Ahmed Hirsi, in Minneapolis when she was 16.
Since the couple had married religiously – not civilly — to get divorced, Hirsi had to simply declare the marriage ended, Omar wrote.
In the book, Omar doesn’t name Elmi or say how they met or when their relationship ended.
Since Omar ran for state lawmaker in 2016, she has been met with allegations that Elmi, the man she married during her split from Hirsi, is her brother.
The lawmaker told Omar she was different, and eventually said it was because she walks into a room “like a man.”
