A British woman who left her husband and three kids to start a new life with a Masai warrior in Kenya has opened up about the regrets she carries from her unusual romance — and the emotional toll it took on her family.
Felt stuck in her marriage
Cheryl Thomasgood’s story made headlines around the world when she left her comfortable suburban life on England’s Isle of Wight to chase an unexpected romance in a remote Kenyan village. But now, decades later, she’s opening up about the reality behind what once seemed like a fairytale.
Back in 1995, Cheryl was 34 years old when she met Daniel Lekimencho — a towering 6-foot-2 Masai warrior and traditional dancer who performed for tourists at a hotel in Mombasa. Their connection was immediate and powerful.
At the time, Cheryl Mason was feeling stuck in her marriage and frustrated with her job as a hairdresser on the peaceful Isle of Wight, just off England’s southern coast.
She decided a week-long getaway to Africa with a girlfriend might help her clear her head and figure out what changes she wanted to make. But Cheryl never expected that a night at the hotel bar, where a group of tribal dancers had gathered, would change her life forever. Even more surprising was the fact that her life would be changed by a Masai warrior — 10 years younger than her — who lived in a mud hut and spent his days hunting giraffes and lions.
“When I saw him, I was bowled over by his physical appearance,” Cheryl told The Province in 1998. “I knew I couldn’t spend my life without him.”
”I had to make a decision”
After the performance, Daniel approached Cheryl and offered to show her around the Kenyan coast. What followed was a whirlwind romance, with the pair spending the rest of her vacation exploring the seaside and soaking up their chemistry.
But when the trip ended, Cheryl faced a gut-wrenching choice: return home to her husband and kids — or follow her heart into the unknown.
“He was so beautiful, I had to make a decision,” she recalled. “It was then I thought, well, what am I going to do – be sensible and play the contented suburban housewife, or start living the way I wanted to?”
Within weeks, Cheryl had left her second husband, Mike Mason, and their three children to be with Daniel, who was ten years her junior.
Surprisingly, Cheryl’s husband Mike took the news with remarkable grace. He admitted their marriage hadn’t been strong for a while — and even went so far as to sell his car to help fund her return trip to Kenya.
Husband’s reaction
“Some people think I’m a bit of a wimp over this and that I should have kicked Cheryl out right then,” Mike said at the time. “But there are children involved and I wanted us to be on good terms. I have to accept that our marriage is finished.”
In late 1994, Cheryl packed up her life and moved to Kenya, settling into Daniel’s mud hut in the heart of rural Africa. For a few months, she embraced the traditional Masai lifestyle — but the extreme conditions quickly wore her down. The scorching daytime heat and freezing nights took a toll on her health, and Cheryl eventually fell ill.
Needing to return to England to recover, she came up with a bold plan to reunite with Daniel: she sold her story to the press. The money from those interviews helped her afford his plane ticket to the UK.
Once Daniel finally arrived in the UK, it was time for the next big surprise.
The couple made a bold statement by marrying on Valentine’s Day 1995, dressed in traditional Masai clothing. Authorities, however, were skeptical of the marriage, suspecting it was simply a ploy for Daniel to gain citizenship. As a result, he was deported in 1995.
The couple returned to the UK a few years later, raising their daughter Mitsi while trying to adapt to life on the Isle of Wight.
The reality of their relationship
Their whirlwind love story made headlines and captivated readers at the time—but years later, the fairytale has faded, and Cheryl’s version of events sounds very different.
But Cheryl says the reality of their relationship was far from the spiritual connection she’d imagined. She now admits she was used as a “meal ticket” by Daniel, whose obsession with money and material things grew after moving to England.
“I made a huge mistake, it was very wrong of me, and I have a lot of regrets, especially about how it damaged my children,” Cheryl told MailOnline in a rare interview reflecting on her “tormented” marriage.
She describes Daniel’s dramatic shift from the spiritual, proud warrior she fell for in Kenya to a man frustrated by middle-class life, constantly demanding more — from a bigger home to designer clothes and cash to send back to his family in Kenya.
“The only time Daniel was happy was when he was jumping around in the garden doing his traditional Masai dance,” Cheryl recalled. “He would say that he was getting ready for battle and wanted to jump as high as an elephant. The kids loved it, but it got on my nerves after a while.”
Difficult past
Despite her hopes, cultural differences and Daniel’s struggles to adjust led to constant fights and eventually, their split in 1999 — just four years after their wedding.
Cheryl also opened up about her difficult past, revealing she suffered sexual abuse as a child and was battling trauma and an unhappy marriage when she met Daniel. A church choir friend encouraged her to take the Kenyan trip that would change her life — but what she thought would be healing turned out to be a painful escape.
“The impact all this had on my children. Having a Masai warrior as a father was not easy for them. Daniel was trying his best, but he could never understand the Western ways and couldn’t be the dad that they needed,” Cheryl said.
Her children — Steve, 43; Tommy, 41; Chloe, 34; and Mitsi, 27 — have had to navigate the complicated fallout of their mother’s choices, but Cheryl says she’s proud that despite everything, her relationships with them remain strong.
Today, 65-year-old Cheryl lives a quiet life in a seaside town in Somerset, far from the spotlight and the drama of her past. She has no plans to marry again after what she calls a “hattrick of disasters.”
Meanwhile, Daniel still lives on the Isle of Wight, working in a supermarket — a far cry from the proud warrior who once danced under the Kenyan sun.
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