Multi-award-winning Nigerian singer Tiwa Savage is getting candid about the immense effect her divorce had on her stardom noting she feels like in a blink of an eye she went from her country’s sweetheart to a villain with netizens faulting her for the split. According to Miss Tiwa, she has never brought herself to talk about the divorce till now due to the horrible way the public absorbed and reacting to the news when the story broke. The ‘Who Is Your Guy‘ hitmaker split up with her husband of 5 years, entertainer and talent manager, Tunji Balogun who goes by the moniker Tee Billz.
The ex-coupleThe two, who share one kid together (a son) had been together from 2013 till 2018 when their marriage came to an end.Speaking during a candid interview she had on the set of Receipts podcast, Tiwa opened up about how her messy and widely publicized divorce coupled up with the headlines that followed saw her fall from the beloved national icon that she was after gaining fame. “When I came out and had my breakthrough, I was Nigeria’s sweetheart… when I started, I could do no wrong in Nigerian’s eyes,” the mother of one recalled the bitter-sweet memory.Adding, “I did everything by the book, I did everything by the books, you know. I went to university, and I was not a baby mama, and I got married then I had a baby… so I did everything in the right order, and everybody loved me and then everything happened.”The singer recalled how Nigerians blamed her for the divorce as her ex-husband Tee Billz was the one who announced it to the public.
According to the 44-year-old singer cum entrepreneur her life was flipped upside down and she was constantly bombarded with phone calls of people giving her their two cents on how she should handle things.Recounting the ordeal she narrated, “I remember famous people calling me to ask how I could tell my side of the story because I would never win. Ever since then, I was like I won’t ever talk about the situation because it was very heartbreaking how the public took it,” noting the calls from prominent people were mostly to discourage her from trying to defend herself or give her side of the story.
She failed to head their advice and decided to address the stories surrounding her divorce a shot, a move in retrospect she feels she shouldn’t have done as it just fueled the burning pit of hate directed towards her. “After I did an interview trying to tell my side of the story things got worse. People were like, ‘how dare you go and talk? You are a woman, and you are supposed to build the house! It is your fault,” the artist shared.
She added that she’s never understood how her ex broke up with her but she’s the one who took the brunt of it all.
“He actually announced it online. I didn’t break up with him, but I was the one being attacked and my baby was just a few months old, and I was dealing with postpartum, and my body wasn’t the same and I was really depressed. Everyone then went to him and only few people came to see me,” she emotionally shared. Finishing up, Tiwa marveled at how certain online publications also joined in on trolling her highlighting the headlines used on articles carrying her stories were just plain malicious. “Then I started getting hate from blogs and I started getting hate from certain people as well. And that is how our situation happened,” Tiwa said.
by HANNIE PETRA
