Sex,Money : Cause of crashed celebrity marriages

Divorces today is becoming alarming, more so when  the reasons given are flimsy, which could have been settled amicably. That’s why celebrity marriages don’t last more than few months.

In Nigeria, the case is a bit different because of  the African culture which usually does not allow a wife to leave her husband, even if the husband proves to be a monster. In other to avoid shame and humiliation from the society, the African woman could bear maltreatments,  most especially for the sake of the children and for what the society would say.

Men command so much respect and have the power and authority to send their wives packing whenever they please, and even bring in another wife without any complain from the woman. But most especially, before a man can send his wife packing during the primitive African era, it must be for a solid reason. But now, the story is slightly not the same again. Some couples can decide to call it quit because of insubstantial reasons which would have been avoided.

One thing discovered in most Nigerian celebrity marriages is that as these people  grow in fame, most of them seem to grow out of their marriages. It’s then they’ll come out to say they’re having problems with their marriages and the only option is divorce.

The mind boggling question is: why didn’t they opt out ever before achieving fame. Why after achieving fame?
There is no doubt about the great positive impacts that Nigerian entertainers have made through their undying efforts to make the Entertainment Industry match standards overseas.

Nigerian movies and music are now being appreciated abroad, especially in Africa. But it seems that after making efforts to imbibe Hollywood’s style of movie making and foreign style of music, some Nigerian celebrities’  attitude towards marriage is almost the same as theirs. We are not pointing this out to criticise but because their fans are concerned about them as models and will love it if they seek redress and add dignity in marriage to their profession.

Cases of crashed celebrity marriages abound in this country. They include  Saheed and Fathia Balogun. Saheed took time out when the going was good  to tell the world how rock solid his union with Fathia was. Soon, he accused the actress of flirting around .

The couple tried to save their marriage but their differences were ‘irreconcilable’ and they drifted apart. Married on December 20, 2000, the union crashed in 2006.

Star actress Eucharia Anunobi suffered the same fate. Eucharia filed for divorce from her  husband, Mr. Ekwu in 2007. Eucharia admitted that she and her hubby had been living separately for more than two years. “I caught him sleeping with our 13-year old housemaid. When I accosted him, he left the house. He returned after a month. He left the house again and never returned.

He left our 4year old son and his cousin. Since then I haven’t seen or heard from him. The child we have between us is a sickler, but he abandoned us and went off”. After the divorce; she has since been sighted around town with a younger lover whom she rained words of praises on whenever an opportunity arises.

Star actress Kefee Obareki and her producer husband, Alec Godwin filed for a divorce on Thursday, January 22,2009 at Sapele Magistrate Court, Delta State. Their union which produced no issue, crashed on allegations ranging from Alec accusing her of denying him sex after their wedding. He also accused her of  infidelity, that she brought men into their home.

Kefee accused her hubby of bed wetting and request for anal sex. She also said  that he beat her up. And of course, money issue was part of the problem. They are no longer together. Kefee has moved ahead and has since then  released another album A Piece of Me, which had the award winning kokoroko featuring Timaya..

Segun Arinze, according to reports, had on May 25, 2009, asked an Ikeja High Court, Lagos to divorce his wife of 13 years, Annette after 11 years of leaving apart since 29th May,1998. The marriage was blessed with 12-year -old daughter, Morenike Padonou.

He said he wanted a divorce to allow him continue with his life, promising to be responsible for their daugther’s upkeep. He also said that both found out after about a year into the marriage that they couldn’t leave together. They wedded at the Ikorodu Local Government Registry on the 10th of May, 1996.

Also, Ayo Adesanya, Monalisa Chinda, Stephanie Okereke, Bukky Wright, smoke screen talk show idol, Agatha Amata….The list is endless.

What could have caused the crack-ups of these once- upon- a- time -heavenly made marriages? Research has shown that sex and money are the main issues, not forgetting false lifestyle and peer pressure. It is either one of the parties is complaining ‘my husband cannot satisfy me in bed!’, ‘his penis is too small’, ‘he doesn’t take care of me anymore and can’t perform his fatherly duties, or’ ‘She’s cheating on me!’, ‘he drinks too much, beats me up!’, or ‘she’s being influenced by her friends who give her bad advice!’ These and more unending reasons will make one doubt if ever they were truly in love!

Most people who want to go into entertainment may want to emulate the life style of their idols, and those  who are thinking of tying the knot with an entertainer maybe having a second thought about it to avoid such a fate befalling them because it creates a false scene of a common trend in the industry.