TRAJECTORY OF LIFE: Staying married would have killed me – Onyeka Onwenu

In an interview with media personality, Kikelomo Atanda-Owo on ‘Real Talk with Kike’, the 70-year-actress spoke about how she tried so hard to ensure her marriage didn’t fail until she realised she could die if she remained in it.Onwenu said: “I went through it. It was difficult because I really didn’t want my marriage to end but I could not take it anymore. It would have killed me. I always say and that is the truth.

“And it was not good for the children to live in that kind of environment where the mother is depressed, the mother is carrying the weight of the whole family.

“I raised my children from kindergarten to Masters Degree.

“My husband didn’t pay school fees for one day, didn’t buy clothes, didn’t pay for holidays, didn’t give me housekeeping money, hard to believe.

“But he was a nice, kind and generous man. He was also generous occasionally and he would do something for you that you would be wow.

“And basically there was control, where if you didn’t do things the way he wanted, “Well I’m not going to help you, I’m not going to give you money.”

The music icon said men will have to answer to God if they neglect their families.

“That’s mean, irresponsible, wicked, even to your own children? Forget about the wife, the children.

“And I decided to write about it because women, we keep quiet for too long. We take so much and you’re dying.

“And once I opened up, I felt this relief that a lot of women who read it would say, thank you for talking about this. ‘We know now that we ought to free ourselves.”

Though she said she doesn’t support divorce, Onwenu said if it must happen, it should be done peacefully.