The Nollywood actress Funke Akindele has shared her thoughts on her previous marriages and their dissolution.
The director told Wazobia Max TV that she doesn’t view her failed marriage as a personal failure and that she lives life one step at a time.
“For me, if you don’t fail, you can’t be successful. You have to keep trying. But you have to pick yourself up and rise again. For me, I see obstacles as part of life. And I do not even see the failure. If you ask me, ‘Can you tell me one failure?’ I do not see it as a failure. Maybe my personal life, yes…you know…marriage stuff. I just take it as it comes,” she said.
Akindele added that her perspective is influenced by the lessons her late mother taught her.
She went on, “My mum raised me like that. My mum will say if you do not fail, if you do not fall, you cannot succeed. So you have to keep going.”
Two marriages have been celebrated by Funke Akindele, the first in 2012 to well-known businessman Adeola Kehinde Oloyede of Oshodi. Before it ended, there were numerous reports of adultery and abuse in this marriage.
Then once more in 2016 to JJC Skillz, also known as Abudulrahseed Bello. Their marriage ended in 2020, but not before they welcomed a set of twin boys.
Akindele has since talked candidly about the lessons she took away from her previous marriages, though. She gave herself as an example back in September 2023, pointing out that she quickly got married after giving in to social pressure.
She has persevered in her optimism and utilized her experiences to mentor other women in spite of her setbacks.
From 1998 to 2002, Funke Akindele starred in the sitcom I Need to Know. Her breakthrough role in Jenifa earned her the 2009 Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
In the 2015 television series adaptation of Jenifa’s Diary, Akindele played the same role again. For this role, she won the 2016 and 2017 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards for Best Actress in a Comedy.
