It’s easy to dislike the former Big Brother Naija housemate Gifty Powers; she speaks in a phony accent and she had the temerity to claim she didn’t know who Banky W was.
But at the end of the day, that’s what the (over)exposure of a reality show does: it opens the individual up to a lot of criticism, some valid and the overwhelming majority unfounded.
READ: This BBN housemate was reportedly married for 5 months, dated singer Flavour and is a super flirt
It only took a few days after the commencement of the show for photos of her ‘wedding’ to surface online.
A movie director, David Sorochukwu Akumah, claimed to be the legal husband of Gifty. At the same time, there were talks of a sextape involving she and a boyfriend.
Of course it made for juicy gossip: a married woman on a reality show getting frisky with a co-contestant! What a wawu.
Now, on a HipTV interview just this afternoon, Gifty revealed that she was indeed married before. According to her, the marriage happened when she was only 19 years old.
As our female celebs tend to do these days, she broke down in tears as she bemoaned the judgement Nigerians passed on her without knowing her struggles.
She wasn’t ready: Gifty fights back tears while admitting she was married
Away from the theatrics, it is important to examine her early marriage. At 19, barely out of the innocence of adolescence, the last thing a girl should be doing is getting married.
Gifty is one of the several millions of teenage brides across Nigeria who still are shipped off to ‘husband’s house’ as early as possible.
Certain people wait till the legal age of 18 to stay within the confines of legality but in truth, it all is the same thing.
Except for a few lucky ones who are still allowed to be educated after the marriage, the teenage bride usually says bye to any dreams she may have had – her new dreams are cooking and cleaning and getting busy in the ‘other room’.
ALSO: Gifty’s man wants a share of the BBN prize money or he’ll share their sextape
Getting married is not for children. While 19 is not illegal in the exact sense of the world, there’s a lot a young lady could be doing at that age; you know, like going to university and developing skills that would grant her a chance to succeed in the post modern world we live in now.
Gifty is fortunate to have gotten out of the marriage she says she was not mature enough for. Most women won’t be that lucky. Their dreams will be stifled as they’re sent off with yams and goats and palm oil.
To put it mildly: that sucks.
No Fields Found.
