In 1950, Fathia and her mother Nazli both converted from Islam to Catholicism.
She married Riyad Ghali, the family's Royal Advisor, who was 11 years her senior, and was a Christian at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, California, USA on 25 April 1950 (civ) and 11 May 1950 (rel).
Her brother King Farouk of Egypt was shocked and humiliated by the scandal and sacrilege and he excommunicated the two women, confiscating their extensive lands and banning them from Egypt forever. Their sister Faika went back to Egypt in 1951 to get back her title, and she did. Fathia and her mother Nazli settled in the United States for the rest of her life, having many troubles that made her reach to living in a small flat in California.
The marriage produced three children:
Rafik Ghali (November 29, 1952)
Rayed Ghali (born May 20, 1954)
Ranya Ghali (born April 21, 1956)
Later in 1973, she divorced Riyad Ghali because of bad investments that made them lose almost everything they owned. Later, her mother's jewelry was sold for $1,500,000. Fathia also worked as a cleaning lady to pay her debt. Some time later, her mother sent a request to President Anwar El-Sadat to retrieve their Egyptian passports, which he granted.
On 10 December 1976, the day she was returning to Egypt, she went to her ex-husband's house by the excuse of "taking Ghali's mother's (Galila) clothes". When she went, she found Ghali drunk, and not wanting her to leave, and using his revolver, he shot her with 6 shots in her head. Then, Ghali tried to kill himself but he survived. He went to prison. Some reports say he only served a year in prison, due to ill health.
He died on 12 July 1987.