World’s Tallest Man Sultan Kosen Opens Up About Divorce That Broke His Heart: “I’m Very Sad”

Sultan Kosen, 43, who towers at a staggering 8 feet 3 inches and has held the Guinness World Record for the tallest living man for 17 years, has broken his silence on his 2021 divorce from ex-wife Merve Dibo, and the words he chose were simple, gut-wrenching, and impossible to forget: "I'm very sad."

The Turkish record-holder opened up in a new British Channel 4 documentary, and the internet has not been the same since, according to The Mirror US.

Kosen married Merve Dibo, a Syrian woman who stood 5 feet 6 inches tall, in 2013 in Mardin, Turkey. Their wedding drew around 1,500 guests, including dignitaries such as the president and prime minister of Turkey, as well as a representative from Guinness World Records.

At the altar, Sultan looked at his bride and said what millions of people dream of being able to say with such certainty: "When I looked into her eyes, I knew it was love."

Merve wasn't swept off her feet by his fame or his record-breaking frame, either. She said at the time, "At first people told me not to marry him, but I fell in love with his heart, not his height." That's the kind of line that belongs in a fairytale.

But life rarely cooperates with fairytales. After almost eight years of marriage, the couple divorced in 2021, with the language barrier cited as one of their major problems — Kosen spoke only Turkish, while Dibo spoke only Arabic. Two people, one roof, and no shared language — the writing, in hindsight, was on the wall from the start.

In the documentary, Kosen didn't dress it up. "We couldn't continue. My wife chose her family. We got divorced. Our happiness didn't last long," he said. Looking at wedding photographs for the cameras, his voice cracked with the weight of it: "When it comes to my mind, I'm very sad, because it hurt me a lot and I loved her a lot. When I look at these photos, I get emotional. I'm very sorry."

After the divorce, Merve returned to Syria, while Kosen set off traveling again in search of a new partner. His brother Hasan spoke plainly to the documentary cameras: "Sultan could be happier. His free time is always spent on the computer. But if he finds a girlfriend, there can be other things in his life."

And Sultan, ever the self-deprecating giant, responded to the prospect of finding love again with a joke that stung just a little: "I'm very ugly. If I was handsome, I would have found someone."

He did also say that finding a new companion would make him "the happiest man in the world", though he admits he's unsure if that possibility will ever become a reality.

For a man who the whole world looks up to, literally, Sultan Kosen's greatest dream has always been remarkably ordinary: someone to share a life with.