Marriages as an institution ordained by God has come under serious challenges of recent. Every now and then, the air is polluted with the filthy of failed marriages involving one Nollywood actress or the other. Worrisome is the rate at which these star actresses are divorcing their husbands. While many factors have been identified as being responsible for this ugly development, the fact remains that more and more notable Nollywood actresses are moving from the alter to divorce courts at a speed that would shame lightening.
A survey conducted by The Eagle Online indicated that excessive influence cum intoxication that comes with fame is not far from being responsible for the incessant break-up of marriage of these famous actresses. Funsho Akinwale chronicles some of the actresses whose marriages have broken up.
Funke Akindele
The case of popular award winning Nollywood actress, Funke Akindele, is, perhaps, the most recent one. Though reports have it that many had warned the Glo Ambassador actress to desist from having something permanent with Kehinde Oloyede, the married son of the former Iyaloja of Oshodi in Lagos State, she went ahead to exchange marital vows with him. Akindele had to swallow her bitter pills when Oloyede walked out of the marriage few months. This was after almost a year into the marriage.
Monalisa Chinda
Rivers State born actress, Monalisa Chinda, and her estranged hubby, Dejo Richards, used to be a happy couple until a few things went wrong and they had to go separate ways. They had met at a cybercafe in the United Kingdom, where Chinda used to work as an attendant. They later relocated to Nigeria to cement the union. The marriage that produced a baby girl crumbled in 2010, shortly after Chinda got her Glo Ambassador deal. She quickly moved out of her Mende, Maryland, Lagos State matrimonial home to an unknown destination. The University of Port Harcourt graduate had claimed to be a victim of domestic violence. Chinda not only packed out of the apartment, she withdrew her 2009 Altima Nissan car forcefully from Richards. She did this with the help of policemen from Maryland Police Station. The mullato actress, who now resides in Lekki area of Lagos State, was sometime ago romantically linked to several men on the Island.
Doris Simon
Doris Simon is a product of Wale Adenuga Film Production. She was introduced into the movie world by her late lover, Yomi Ogunmola, before she came to limelight through Wale Adenuga’s popular sitcom, Super story. Her romance with top producer cum director, A. Ademinokan, didn’t last long before it came crashing few months ago. The union produced a boy before Stella Damasus allegedly snatched him from Simeon. Ademinokan and Damasus are said to be presently cooling off in the United States of America, while Simeon, we were told, is heading to court for divorce.
Eucharia Anunobi
She came into the movie industry when she starred in Okechukwu Ogunjifor’s film, Nneka the pretty Serpent, as a goddess and later had her break after starring also in Glamour Girls. Eucharia Annunobi probably believed that she had found Mr. Right when she hooked up and married her ex-husband. Ever before her ex-hubby dumped his matrimonial home in 2007 and in the process also abandoned his child, stories of wife battering, which Anunobi denied, made the rounds. Unconfirmed reports claim that Mr. Ekwu chickened out of the union following his inability to fulfill his financial obligations to the union.
Fathia Balogun
Like her relationship with her first husband, Tunde Anchor, the marriage of this Edo State born actress and fellow actor, Saheed Balogun, has also hit the rock. But before meeting Saheed Balogun, Fathia Balogun had a son, who lives with his father in London, United Kingdom. Her marriage to Balogun was the talk of the town before the couple fell apart. Fathia made several attempts to be re-united with her husband. They have been unsuccessful till now. She had even dedicated an award she won in the United Kingdom to him and enlisted top Yoruba actors, including the likes of Jide Kosoko, to help plead her course. But till date, Saheed has remained adamant, insisting that their union is based in the grave yard of history.
Ibinabo Fiberesima
The President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, Ibinabo Fiberesima, has her own share of failed relationship. Her affairs with Philip Trimnell and top singer, Daniel Wilson, were widely celebrated on the pages of the national dailies. Years after she got into trouble when her car rammed into a doctor’s car, killing the doctor in the process and leading to her conviction in a manner that stripped unclad of her fame, Fiberesima berthed her love boat with a veteran actor, Fred Amata. The relationship produced a child before Amata dumped her and moved on to another relationship. Before she was revived back to the social klieglight through her emergence as AGN president, Fiberesima was a victim of double tragedy, a failed relationship and loss of self respect.
Obot Etuk
Obot Etuk is one of the most respected in interpreting movie roles but this is not the same with her lifestyle. She was celebrated for her love affair with younger colleague, Ernest Azuzu. Despite the age difference, several times the actor would beat her to the surprise of most people. Today, Obot has three kids out of wedlock.
Sandra Achums
Germany-based old time actress, Sandra Achums, has two kids for two fathers. The first came and the father was unknown. So also was the case with her second child. The reason for keeping her relationship from the pages of newspapers may be due to the loss of her proposed marriage years back, which most weekly magazines feasted on.
Bukky Wright
Hers is a popular face in TV soaps and home videos. One minute, she is the adorable mum, the next she is the naughty lady. She was Ajoke, the ill-treated wife of Suara in the Super Story series, which endeared her to the hearts of Nigerian TV viewers. Her role in KKK, a Yoruba home video, might have put her in the black book of other viewers. An Economics graduate, Bukky Wright was reported to have deleted marriage, describing it as something that has no place in her dictionary of life, especially now that she has been in and out of it two times. According to her: “I’ve been into two marriages. But I believe they are not meant to be. I believe in the will of God. I won’t say they are mistakes. Like I said, it is will of God that supersedes whatever we think we are. I still believe that God wants it. Things happen in our lives that we can’t control.” However, despite her faith and affluence, Wright is not shying away from hoping to meet her dream man some
day but at the moment, like the most of her affected colleagues, the beautiful actress has no cause to complaining either.
Kate Henshaw Nuttal
The case of Nollywood star actress, Kate Henshaw, was also a recent one. Henshaw, few months ago, packed out of her matrimonial when her foreigner husband, Rodricks Nuttal, picked his secretary as his second wife. This development threw Henshaw off balance and this led to a fisticuff between Henshaw and the secretary. The old timer actress and mother of one later moved out of her Victoria Island, Lagos State matrimonial home to pick a new life. Nuttal was said to have been responsible for all the endorsement deals in Henshaw’s kitty till date.