Have you heard about Dewi Sukarno ?
Dewi Sukarno is the widow of the late Indonesian President, Soekarno. And she was recently featured in a sequel of the popular Japanese drama, The Confidence Man JP: Princess.
Dewi, 80, originally named Naoko Nemoto, was born in Japan in 1940. To achieve her dream of becoming a star, she quit high school to work at a club where she learned singing and dancing.
At the age of 19, she met the then 57-year-old Sukarno, the former president of Indonesia, in a Tokyo bar when he was on a visit to Japan.
The two fell in love at first sight.
Despite Sukarno being married, Dewi returned to Indonesia with him that year as his lover. It wasn’t until three years later that the two got married, and Dewi became his third wife. She often attending important social events and with Soekarno, they had a daughter, Kartika.
In 1967, a coup d’état broke out in Indonesia, and Sukarno was overthrown by his subordinates. He remained under home arrest until his death in 1970.
Dewi was forced to live in exile for a long time with Kartika in Switzerland, Paris, and New York.
After Sukarno’s death, Dewi became active in Japan’s show business and she was known as “Mrs. Dewi”.
Living in Tokyo, she now runs her own beauty and jewelry business, while occasionally appearing as a beauty pageant judge on Japanese television.
Dewi recently posted photos of herself and her daughter from their exile on Instagram, with the captions explaining that the photos were taken in 1967 when she was 27 years old carrying her 6-month-old daughter Kartika moving between Japan, The States, and Paris.
Despite the chaos and struggles she faced while in exile, Dewi still looks gorgeous in the photos, holding her daughter and smiling happily.