Rouba Saadeh is a Lebanese fashion designer and entrepreneur best known as the former wife of Italian actor Michele Morrone, the star of Netflix’s 365 Days. But reducing her to “Morrone’s ex-wife” misses the more interesting story: Saadeh built a genuine career in fashion — from graphic design studios in Beirut to the ateliers of Elie Saab — and she did it while keeping her private life firmly out of the spotlight.
This guide covers what is actually verifiable about Rouba Saadeh: her education across three countries, her career at one of the world’s great couture houses, the concept store she founded, her four-year marriage to Morrone, and the quiet life she leads now as a working mother of two.
Who Is Rouba Saadeh?
Rouba Saadeh is a Lebanese fashion designer based in Beirut. She currently works at Elie Saab — the renowned Lebanese couture house — where she has risen to the position of ready-to-wear studio manager. She is also the founder of Le Paradis Des Fous, a designer concept store she launched in Beirut.
- Full name: Rouba Saadeh
- Born: April 15, 1987, in Beirut, Lebanon
- Nationality: Lebanese
- Profession: Fashion designer, entrepreneur
- Known for: Work with Elie Saab, founding Le Paradis Des Fous, former marriage to Michele Morrone
- Children: Two sons, Marcus and Brando Morrone
- Instagram: @roubasaadeh
Publicly, she is most recognized as Michele Morrone’s ex-wife — they married in 2014 and divorced in 2018. Privately, she is a working fashion professional who has spent over a decade in the industry, and she has kept it that way by choice.
Early Life and Education
Rouba Saadeh was born on April 15, 1987, in Beirut, Lebanon, where she spent her childhood. Her mother is Manolia (also reported as Magnolia) Mano Saadeh. She grew up with siblings, including a sister named Abir Saadeh. Saadeh has rarely spoken publicly about her father or her childhood in detail, and that reticence has been consistent throughout her adult life.
What is well documented is her education, which is unusually thorough. She attended Collège Notre-Dame de Jamhour, a private Catholic school in Baabda, Lebanon, graduating in 2004 with a high school diploma in French and a Lebanese Baccalaureate in Experimental Science.
From there, her studies took her across three countries:
- Lebanese American University (LAU), Beirut: Bachelor of Science in Graphic Design, with an emphasis on digital media. She later also earned a Master of Business Administration from LAU.
- Central Saint Martins, London: A fashion design course at one of the world’s most prestigious art and design schools.
- Istituto Marangoni, Milan: A postgraduate diploma in fashion design.
That combination — graphic design, business administration, and formal fashion training in London and Milan — explains the trajectory of her career. She did not stumble into fashion through celebrity; she trained for it deliberately, over many years, in three of the industry’s most serious schools.
Career: From Graphic Design to Elie Saab
Saadeh’s professional life began in graphic design. In 2008, she started working as a freelance graphic designer, a role she maintained for years. In 2009, she joined Alfa MIC1 as a graphic web designer, where she worked for nearly three years.
The pivot to fashion came in September 2013, when she became assistant to the head of the design team for Elie Saab — the Lebanese couturier whose gowns have dressed royalty and Hollywood’s biggest stars. Working inside the Saab atelier put her at the center of Lebanese high fashion, and she stayed in that orbit.
That same year, 2013, she also launched her own venture: Le Paradis Des Fous (sometimes styled “Les Paradis Des Fous”), a designer concept store in Beirut that collects and showcases talent. Founding a store while working inside a major fashion house showed an entrepreneurial streak that went beyond a staff job.
She returned to Elie Saab in 2019 as a ready-to-wear coordinator, was promoted to studio supervisor in 2021, and since 2022 has held the position of ready-to-wear studio manager. In other words, her career has moved steadily upward inside one of fashion’s most demanding houses — a trajectory built on competence, not connections.
Marriage to Michele Morrone
Rouba Saadeh married Italian actor Michele Morrone in 2014. The couple held private wedding ceremonies in both Italy and Lebanon, keeping the occasion out of the press as much as possible.
At the time of the wedding, Morrone was a working Italian actor but not yet a global name. His breakthrough came years later, in 2020, when he played Massimo Torricelli in the Polish erotic drama 365 Days, which became a streaming phenomenon on Netflix. By then, the marriage was already over.
The marriage lasted four years. Saadeh and Morrone divorced in 2018. Neither party has aired the details publicly, and the split appears to have been handled privately — consistent with how Saadeh has managed every aspect of her personal life.
Together they have two sons, Marcus Morrone and Brando Morrone. Since the divorce, Saadeh has continued to co-parent while working full time in fashion, and she has kept her children almost entirely out of the public eye.
Life After the Divorce
Unlike many people who find themselves adjacent to sudden celebrity, Saadeh did not leverage the Morrone name into a public persona. She has no reality appearances, no tell-all interviews, no influencer career built on the marriage. Her Instagram account (@roubasaadeh) exists, but she maintains a low profile.
Instead, she did something quieter and harder: she kept working. Her promotions at Elie Saab — coordinator in 2019, supervisor in 2021, studio manager in 2022 — all came after the divorce, during the years when Morrone’s fame was exploding globally. While her ex-husband’s face was on billboards, she was running a design studio in Beirut.
She continues to live and work in Lebanon, raising her two sons and building her career on her own terms. Estimates of her net worth vary widely across celebrity bio sites (figures from $500,000 to $2 million are commonly cited), and none are verified — which itself says something about how little she has monetized her public profile.
What Makes Rouba Saadeh’s Story Different
The internet is full of “ex-wife of” profiles that treat women as footnotes to famous men. Saadeh’s story resists that framing in a way worth noting. She had a career before the marriage, maintained it through the marriage, and advanced it after the divorce — all while declining every opportunity to become a celebrity herself.
Like Kebe Dunn, who built her own acting career alongside marriage to a famous husband, Saadeh represents a category of celebrity spouse the public rarely notices: the ones who were already professionals, and who stayed professionals.
Her multilingual background (Arabic, English, and French), her training across Beirut, London, and Milan, and her steady rise inside Elie Saab suggest a designer whose reputation rests on work rather than association. In an industry that rewards visibility, she chose the opposite — and kept her job, her privacy, and her dignity intact.
Inside Beirut’s Fashion World
To understand Saadeh’s career, it helps to understand Beirut. The Lebanese capital has long punched far above its weight in fashion — it is the hometown not only of Elie Saab but of Zuhair Murad, Reem Acra, and a generation of couturiers who dress Hollywood’s awards seasons. Working inside the Saab atelier means operating at the nerve center of that world: fittings for red-carpet clients, embroidery workshops employing hundreds of artisans, and a design calendar set by Paris.
Saadeh’s path through this ecosystem is instructive. She entered through the side door — graphic design, not fashion school nepotism — and worked her way into the design team on merit. Her 2013 launch of Le Paradis Des Fous showed she understood something else: Beirut’s appetite for curated, international fashion retail. Concept stores like hers function as cultural hubs, introducing local audiences to designers they would never otherwise encounter. Running one while holding a senior role at Saab suggests a professional with range: corporate discipline by day, entrepreneurial curation by night.
Her steady promotions after 2019 — coordinator, supervisor, studio manager — coincided with Lebanon’s economic collapse, a period when many fashion professionals left the country. That she stayed, advanced, and kept building says as much about her as any résumé line.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Rouba Saadeh?
Rouba Saadeh is a Lebanese fashion designer and entrepreneur. She works as ready-to-wear studio manager at Elie Saab and founded the Beirut concept store Le Paradis Des Fous. She is also known as the former wife of Italian actor Michele Morrone.
When were Rouba Saadeh and Michele Morrone married?
They married in 2014 in private ceremonies held in Italy and Lebanon, and divorced in 2018 after four years of marriage.
How many children does Rouba Saadeh have?
She has two sons with Michele Morrone: Marcus Morrone and Brando Morrone. She keeps both children out of the public eye.
What is Le Paradis Des Fous?
Le Paradis Des Fous is a designer concept store in Beirut founded by Rouba Saadeh in 2013. It collects and showcases fashion talent from around the world.
Where did Rouba Saadeh study?
She earned a Bachelor’s in Graphic Design and an MBA from the Lebanese American University in Beirut, completed a fashion course at Central Saint Martins in London, and earned a postgraduate diploma in fashion design from Istituto Marangoni in Milan.
Is Rouba Saadeh still working at Elie Saab?
As of the most recent verified reports, she holds the position of ready-to-wear studio manager at Elie Saab, a role she has held since 2022.
The Quiet Professional
Rouba Saadeh’s story is ultimately about a choice: the choice to be known for work rather than association. She trained in three countries, built a career inside one of fashion’s great houses, founded her own store, raised two children, and walked away from a marriage to a man who would become globally famous — all without turning any of it into content.
In 2026, that kind of privacy looks less like absence and more like discipline. And it makes her one of the more genuinely interesting figures among celebrity ex-spouses: a designer first, everything else second.
