BEVERLY HILLS, April 24, (THEWILL) – Nollywood actress, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, says any woman who goes into marriage without any source of income will become a slave in the union.
The film star disclosed this in a recent interview with BBC Yoruba where she talked about her experience about getting married at the age of 18 and her career strides.
According to her, women should only think of marriage when they had a source of livelihood and the maturity to handle challenges that they would face.
The actress disclosed that she got married at 18 because she was already financially buoyant and mentally prepared for it at the time as the death of her father, while she was young, helped her maturity and ability to deal with responsibilities.
She said: “When I got married, above all, I was mature when I met my husband. Currently, I have only one child that is 18 years old, so the question is late. He is a boy and peradventure, he says he wants to get married, I will not allow it because he does not have his own money now. One must apply wisdom or common sense in everything one does.
“People cannot say that because I married at 18, therefore they can also do it. The question is, ‘Are you ready for marriage?’ When I was at that age, I was ready. I had been working since I was 15 years old and I had become a millionaire at the age of 18. That is a fact that a lot of people don’t know.
“I had my own money. I was not dependent on any man. Moreover, my father died early, so I was already responsible for my younger siblings. I was like their mother at that time, so I was very mature and financially prepared.
“One should not marry a man when one is not financially stable. If one does that, one would be going into slavery or better still, prison. If any of my children, after considering all these factors, say they are ready for marriage, we (parents) would meet the person and if we like them, we would give them our blessings.”
THEWILL writes that Omotola and Matthew Ekeinde got married in 1996 and the union has been blessed with four children.
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