Nollywood actress Laide Bakare has given fresh details about her two failed marriages and her long custody fight. According to Kemi Filani News, she spoke in an interview with Chude Jideonwo, a video of which has been circulating online.
First marriage: 'threatened' by her finances
Laide said her first husband felt unsettled by her financial independence and sent her out of the house after she returned from a trip to the United States. The account is hers alone and the sources carry no response from him.
In her words: "I travelled to the US, and when I came back, he said, ' Don't bring that back to the house. My first husband was threatened by me being financially free".
Second marriage and the custody fight
Turning to her second marriage, Laide spoke about the woman who is now her ex-husband's wife. She said that woman was only a girlfriend during the marriage and avoided her.
She put it this way: "When I used to be with me, the woman was just his girlfriend. A girlfriend that was hiding from me, and whenever she heard my name, she would run".
The actress also said she has been struggling to get custody of her two sons for a decade. She said that at one stage a court-style arrangement favoured her, but access was later blocked.
"I have been fighting for custody of my kids for the past 10 years. At one point, I got custody of them and then was denied access to them", she said.
Earlier public appeal
About a month before the interview, Kemi Filani News noted, Laide cried out publicly over the dispute. She claimed her ex-husband was not letting her have the children as she wished and that his wife was maltreating them. She said she had evidence and had complained to him, but he did not believe her because of his love for his wife.
In a follow-up post she asked fans for prayers and for Allah's protection over her sons. She alleged that the wife had unhealthy plans for the boys, and said the children's father was not cooperating. These claims have not been independently verified.
Background on her marriages
Laide has been married twice. Her first husband was American-based businessman Olumide Okufulure, and they have a daughter, Simi. That marriage did not last long, according to the report.
She then wed Alhaji Mutairu Atanda Orilowo in 2012 in a private ceremony, and they had two sons. They later separated after allegations that he was involved in fraud, and the EFCC declared him wanted in 2014, the report said.
In 2023, Laide publicly called out both former husbands as deadbeat fathers, using the Yoruba phrase "Awon ex-hubby isonu". She said one of them wanted her to suffer and see her life ruined, but that God did not allow it.
