‘The Audacity’: Idris Elba’s Wife Says She Was Left Shaken After a Fender Bender Escalated Into a Racist Confrontation
British actor Idris Elba is normally a private person.
But when his Sabrina Dhowre Elba took to social media to air out a grievance, everyone knew something wasn’t right.
One scroll on her social media shows the poised and graceful 36-year-old wife, model, entrepreneur, and UN Goodwill Ambassador.
But a recent incident has left the S’ABLE Labs co-founder so “flustered” that she felt the need to share it with her TikTok followers.
On Sunday, June 7, she posted a video detailing how a car accident led to a racist encounter for her.
She started her video clip by explaining that the mishap — which apparently occurred in the United Kingdom — had happened days earlier and that she normally tries to avoid coming on the internet when she’s “still sort of like flustered.”
She continued, “But this woman backed up into my parked car. And when I got out to speak to her about the interaction, it immediately became hostile.”
Sabrina said the woman — who at first attempted to drive off after the collision — asked where she was from, and when she replied that she was from Canada, the woman asked again. She said she then realized the woman wasn’t actually asking about her background.
“She was trying to change the terms of the interaction,” Sabrina said. “And suddenly it wasn’t about the fact that she had hit my car, it was about whether or not I belonged enough to, like, hold her accountable.”
“And this is the part that really bothered me, and the part that I felt I had to come and speak about, because racism isn’t always theatrical. Sometimes it works by redirection conversations, because you ask for accountability and suddenly my presence became the issue,” she continued.
Sabrina, who lives in London with her husband Idris, mentioned the U.K.’s long history with racism.
She noted that after a country has publicly debated who belongs based on their background, it gives people like the woman she encountered social permission to harbor resentment and contempt toward people who don’t look like them.
Sabrina explained that these incidents can be dismissed as misunderstandings, but she feels it’s more like a pattern.
“That pattern is what’s making people feel increasingly comfortable treating Black and Brown people as conditional citizens, as conditional neighbors, or conditional Londoners,” she continued. “And you can live here, and work here, and contribute here, and build a life here. But in the wrong moment with the wrong person, belonging is still treated like something they have the rights to question.”
Sabrina there was very little damage to her car, so that why she was more upset about their interaction rather than their collision.
She said that she was “tired of pretending” that these moments that may seem “ordinary” to some aren’t also “harmful.”
“And right now I think a lot of us can feel it, and the mood is shifting, and people are becoming bolder, and the quiet part is getting louder. And I don’t think we should keep quietly pretending that we haven’t noticed,” she said.
One fan who agreed with Sabrina wrote, “It’s deliberate- the audacity. It’s so sad to think this may get worse.”
Another person who seemed taken aback by the story wrote, “WOW, some people think they are superior!!”
A third person consoled and supported Sabrina by writing, “Sorry that happened to you – good for standing your ground and analyzing the situation seeing it for what it is.”
It’s not clear what her husband Idris’ take on the incident is, as he has not commented publicly on the situation.
The two met in 2017 at a party in Vancouver while Idris was there filming a movie. The next year they got engaged and were married by April 2019. In 2020, they became UN Goodwill Ambassadors for the International Fund for Agricultural Development where they advocate for global food security in rural communities and small scale farmers.
In fact, they were honored on Monday, June 8 at the TIME100 Impact Dinner in New York City for using their wealth and influence to advocate for social change.
In 2022, they went into business together by becoming co-founders of their skin care brand S’ABLE Labs..
Though this is Sabrina’s first marriage, this isn’t the “Luther” star’s first time being married, in fact it is his third. From 1999 to 2003 he was married to makeup artist Hanne Norgaard and together they had their daughter Isan Elba, 24.
He went on to marry real estate lawyer Sonya Nicole Hamlin in 2006, but they ended their marriage after just a few months.
Sabrina and Idris do not have any children together, and Sabrina does not have any of her own.