Rose Odika, the ace Nigerian actress, has revealed the details behind the collapse of her marriage, citing the dual pressures of infertility and her husband’s intolerance for her career.
Speaking in a recent interview on the Talk To B podcast, Odika, 55, shared that her union was fraught with difficulty from the beginning, as she struggled with childbearing for the first five years.
The Delta state native said that while she eventually gave birth to a child, the respite was short-lived. According to her, the marriage ended in separation when her baby was just one year and two months old.
We got married, and unfortunately, the children were not coming. I did not get pregnant for the first five years. My baby was one year and two months when we finally separated. That’s the only child I have, she said.
Odika also pointed to a deeper issue: her husband’s attempt to control her profession. Offering stern advice to the podcast viewers, the actress condemned staying in toxic unions. She emphasised that a man who meets a woman as an actor should accept her career as a non-negotiable part of her identity.
No need for toxic marriage, it is not worth it. It is not worth your life. A man who met you as an actor, should marry you as an actor. If he cannot stay with it, then he should go, she added.
A stalwart of the Nigerian film industry, Rose Odika began acting in secondary school and transitioned into a professional career in 1989.
She rose to prominence for her role in Olodo Eye and has since become a familiar face in both Yoruba and English-language films. She was born in Ibadan, Oyo state, to a Delta father and an Edo mother.
