BEVERLY HILLS, December 18, (THEWILL) – To paraphrase 2Pac’s song “Me and My Girlfirend”, all Seun and Yeide have needed in this life of sin for a long time is each other.
Seun and Yeide Kuti are two seemingly separate individuals with clear differences, the most noticeable is the height disparity but in truth, they are two sides of the same coin.
After being introduced through Yeide’s cousin many years ago, the couple would meet and feel undeniable chemistry but play it down for obvious reasons.
“We were friends. There was attraction but we tried to play it down because I was seeing somebody and he was also seeing somebody.”
But as the kids say today, ‘don’t let your boyfriend stop you from finding your husband’. That funny rhetoric might just have some merit because more than a decade down the road, Seun and Yeide are now happily married with a beautiful seven year old daughter- Adara Kuti.
The couple, in an encounter with Downtown’s Editor, Latasha Ngwube and Features writer, Chisom Njoku for this preview edition to talk about their seemingly spontaneous wedding a couple of weeks ago, parenthood and staying in love forever after 15 years together!
Seun
Your father, Fela, married 27 women in a single ceremony, making it one of the biggest and most widely known weddings in Nigeria. You, his son, married your wife privately, which is an interesting irony. Can you comment on the juxtaposition of your father being the popular big-hearted polygamist and you loving small secret weddings?
Actually, my father married 26 wives one day. People will say 27, because he had 27. He first married one, his first wife. Then he married 26, not 27. You see? So me too may be I just married one, and then I would still marry 26. Who knows? (Laughs).
2020 has been a challenging year that has everyone questioning their mortality. Did this in any way affect your decision to transit from dating to actual marriage, giving that you already had been dating for 15 years?
Yetunde and I have been traditionally married for a while. We just decided to make it official because in the day and age people want to see paper work before they do anything. For me, I have never seen myself as a moral person because morality has never been my compass. Our wedding is something that was honest as well as needed to be done.
My mortality; whether I live or die, is not why I thought of getting married at all because being married to Yetunde is more about the time we’ve spent together not the time I would not be here with her. My mortality has never been the reason why I did that. I think that’s a more appropriate answer because I thought you said morality.
There are conflicting reports on how young you were when you lost your mother, but did her loss influence your decision to start your family?
I’m not sure why the internet says I lost my mum when I was 3 in actual fact I was 24 going on 25 when she passed away. I wasn’t that young per say back then but I guess, compared to now, yes. However, that has never been a compulsion, you know. My family life is not a coping mechanism for any kind of hole that I have in my heart. My family, like I have said before, is honest and practical; needed for me, not any other abstract, emotional or spiritual reason.
You are surrounded by a lot of women – your wife and your daughter – do they influence your music? If they do, how?
Yes my family has a huge influence in my music. First, I do it as much for myself as I do it for my daughter.
What kind of Nigeria are you hoping for your daughter to inherit?
A Nigeria where she can be free to speak. A Nigeria where she can get a proper education not just education but to be taught the right thing about the history of her land and a Nigeria where we have steady power supply, water; in essence, a Nigeria with no corruption, oppression and greed; a Nigeria with a good working system.
What are some of the values from your childhood that you definitely want to pass on to Adara?
The ability to express myself is foundational to being a healthy balanced human adult. For me the one thing I don’t take away is her ability to express what she is feeling, how she is feeling it and why she is feeling it.
Are there some things from your childhood that you don’t want her to experience?
Definitely. You know Kalakuta was very violent- not internally- but because we were always attacked. Growing as a child, I saw a lot of blood, people dying and getting hurt; a lot of that. I don’t want her to grow up and see people getting shot, in her own house.
Seun now that you are a “family man” do you think that would affect the way you speak out against bad governance and oppression?
I have always been a family man all my life, and it is actually the fact that I have a kid that has made me more deliberate in my actions towards the liberation of my people.
Many people would say the way to a man’s heart is his belly. Seun are you down with the Chef Yeide “Mede mede” or are you are a more traditional palette guy?
When it comes to food; my range of food is quite wide. You know, I eat almost everything.
YEIDE
Watching Chef Yeide as she gets dressed for the photo shoot, laying out her clothes, one can’t help but feel her playful nature as well as that almost schoolgirlish energy as her eyes light up when Seun’s name is mentioned. I select a leopard print playsuit to which she excitedly shares how Seun picked it out and bought it as well as a stunning collection of Swarovski and delicate diamond jewelry. I ask her if they are all gifts from him and she shyly nods before throwing back her head and laughing about how she has nowhere to wear all these gorgeous trinkets. As the final touches of her makeup are being done, she’s barking out orders for restaurant orders coming in as well catering jobs for the following day. Adara her daughter walks in and compliments her mum before twirling right out back to her father’s room. You can see the palpable love and protection bursting out of her ample chest as she takes in her blessings in human form and I’m immediately in awe of her small frame but from which this mighty energy is wielded. Soft spoken, with the most gorgeous smile, it is easy to understand how she captured the restless heart of Seun Kuti but perhaps more importantly, how she has become the woman she is now.
Internet legend has it that Yeide has a background in music and theatre arts, is that connected to how you both met?
Yes, it is connected to how we met. Precisely, music was the platform through which we met.
Yeide, tell us a bit about your family background and what growing up was like for you?
I’m the first child of my parents, the only daughter from my mom. I grew up with my grandmother. She was versatile, resourceful and engaged in various forms of businesses. Everything she did, she made sure I had an input; this included cooking and consequently paved way for my culinary desires.
2020 has been a challenging year that’s had people questioning their mortality. Did this in anyway affect both your decisions to transit from cohabiting and co-parenting to finally tying the knot after 15 years or was it already on the cards for this year?
I will say for us, 2020 even brought us closer. There was never a time we questioned ourselves. Infact it manifested itself as the time in our lives that we spent together without daddy actually traveling for work. To us, we have been married for a while so doing a marriage ceremony was just our way of involving the government as that’s the only way people would recognize our union.
You’re not just lovers turned husband and wife but you’ve been parents for years now… What has that been like for you both? What educational and cultural influences are important to teach young Adara?
Teaching her to know her back ground and history is the first important influence.
It’s been less than a month since you both made it official but has anything actually changed in your lives?
It’s been over a month actually and nothing has changed.
What would you describe as the lowest point in your relationship?
When we are away from each other for a long period of time but when I went to France to have our baby and when I left for the UK with our daughter to study was especially brutal.
As far as “relationship goals” are concerned, is there any couple in history that you admire or aspire to be like?
None. We are just us.
Seun is the unconventional revolutionary, who is not afraid to speak out. Yeide, was this a problem with your friends and family when the relationship first began and if it was, how did you navigate through it?
Not at all, it was not a problem.
Yeide, you’re Cordon Bleu trained but very ethnic and dare we say Afro inclined. How do you fuse both worlds into the heart of your home cooking?
I’m very lucky to have my family; they are open to eating anything and everything. We even come up with recipes together. They make home cooking super easy and creative with their open pallets to trying anything at all. So it is safe it say that my family makes it very easy for me to be able to fuse both worlds.
You both just enjoyed a “honaycation” (honeymoon-stay-vacation). Without covid restrictions and the global pandemic, where would you have loved to go? And for a long standing couple like yourselves, what then was the best part of your getaway?
If you are referring to the video I posted, that’s actually just a day we decided to sleep out. If I were to go on a honeymoon, I would have actually loved to travel to either Egypt, the Caribbeans or Maldives or all three of them. Make it seem like a tour honeymoon , more like a “tourneymoon”. The more places, the merrier!
You both made your acting debut in Kunle Afolayan’s movie, Citation (to be fair Chef Yeide it looked like you were trying to not be seen!) And yes, there’s a fantastic concert scene where Seun gives a great performance but I think we all want to know if the cake presented in another scene to lead actor, Moremi (Temi Otedola) was made by Chef Yeide?
Yes I was trying to not be seen. It was a coincidence that I came with him on the trip and happened to be there at the time of the shoot so I gave a hand. That was all. no, I didn’t make the cake.
About the Author
