How Nigerian celebrities have popularised divorce

In recent times, divorce which seemed to be a thing of the West has taken over Africa and has become the order of the day in Nigeria especially among celebrities.

These days, celebrities do not bulge to have their marriages dissolved over infidelity or irreconcilable differences.

The quest for gender equality; career independence and the pursuit of fame by women have left the institution of marriage in a state of mockery, overlooking African values and culture.

Going to court to break marriages has now become an everyday phenomenon for stars.

For these reasons, most Nigerian celebrities now have no option than to opt for becoming single mothers and fathers to their children. This trend has, therefore promoted moral decadence.

Taking a look at the Nigerian movie industry, Nollywood, one would see that a large population of celebrity couples who started well are presently in an unhealthy situation or divorced.

More celebrity marriages seem to have crashed than survived. Many of which crashed on allegations of infidelity and domestic violence.

There are so many of such short-lived marriages but the most prominent and recent ones include that of Mercy Aigbe and Lanre Gentry. Their marriage crashed in 2017 with so many controversies after allegations of domestic violence and infidelity surfaced online.

Another high profile celebrity divorce was Tonto Dike’s marriage to businessman Olakunle Churchhill in August 2015 which hit the rocks over domestic violence allegations. Their marriage got so entangled that Tonto Dike’s bride price had to be returned to her family by Churchill.

Damilola Adegbite and Chris Attoh, on the other hand, was one of the most admired marriages until it hit the rocks with allegations of infidelity.

Other crashed marriages are; Toyin Aimakhu and Adeniyi Johnson , Funke Akindele and Kehinde Oloyede, Fathia Balogun and Saheed Balogun, Kate Henshaw and Roderick James Nuttal to mention but a few.

However, despite the trend, some few celebrity marriages seem to have weathered the storm. Examples of such are; Olu Jacobs and Joke Silva. Omotola Jalade and Matthew Ekeinde , Omoni and Nnamdi Oboli, Richard Mofe Damijo and Jumobi Adegbesan amongst a few others.

Moving into the Music industry, the marriage of Tiwa Savage and Teebillz broke the internet in 2016 after her estranged husband attempted to commit suicide by making an attempt to jump into the Lagos lagoon. Shortly after, he accused her of cheating with Don Jazzy and Dr Sid.

Ubi Franklin and Lilian Esoro’s marriage hit the rocks sometime in 2017 with allegations of cheating just like that of 9ice & Toni Payne.

Toni was accused of cheating on 9ice with his best friend- Ruggedman.

Some Nigerians are of the opinion that social media contributed greatly to the increase in divorce rate as their lives are exposed to the scrutiny of the public eye.

With the aforementioned, one cannot disagree that the divorce rate seems to be the trend making stars feel comfortable in single parenting which has given birth to the trend of ‘Baby Mamas’ as most single celebrities are scared of taking the bold step into marriage.