 In 1924, Desta Damtew married Tafari Makonnen's daughter "Leult" Tenagnework Haile Selassie.They had four daughters and two sons.Anthony Mockler describes Desta Damtew as "something of an eccentric among Ethiopian nobles", who had run away in his twenties to become a monk at Debre Libanos, as well as having a reputation "as an entrepreneur and an "enfant terrible"."