Years back, the news of romance between Yoruba thespians, Funke Akindele (who was then single and searching) and colleague, Femi Adebayo (Married with kids) rented the air. However the romance story took a new turn when Femi reportedly beat up his wife for Funke Akindele’s sake and in the end he sent her packing amidst speculations of taking the actress as wife.
Years after, Femi Adebayo in an interview with City People recently insisted that Funke Akindele is not responsible for his crashed marriage. He also revealed that he is set to give marriage another shot, seven years after his first marriage crashed amidst controversy.
‘Maybe I should put it in a way that everyone will understand. Femi Adebayo has been single for seven years, I lost my first marriage seven years ago and I felt this is the real time to say I am ready for another marriage. It is not as if I have gotten a date or venue for the marriage like the way it circulated’. On why he has been silent for this long, he said: ‘Well, I have a right to my privacy and if I have issues with my wife, it is not ideal to go public to broadcast it. There are several marriages either from celebrities or not that has gone down the drain.
So, mine is not an exception and marriage is a contract, which you can breach anytime if one party is no longer comfortable with the condition of the contract. ‘I see it as a personal problem that I have been managing for long and I see no reason why I should go around to talk about it in public that my marriage had issues. Inasmuch as I am a celebrity, people will be interested in knowing many things about me, I don’t believe I should make it a public issue that my marriage is unsettled and that was why I kept it to myself.’ Femi further added that his ex-wife sought for divorce after two years of marriage.
In his words: ‘After about 2 years of separation, I think she couldn’t take it any longer, she filed the divorce about 4 years ago. She filed it at an area court in Ilorin where the marriage was celebrated. The marriage was dissolved and we had agreement on how to take care of the babies, how to have access to them and all that. She has the custody of the children and that is that. Under the principle of Islam, which our marriage was celebrated, she should have the custody of the children.’