Our Reporter
Veteran Yoruba actress Lanre Adesina Hassan, better known by her stage name Iya Awero, has shared details about her romantic history and her feelings about getting married again.
In a recent interview on Behind the Fame – African List, Lanre recalled how her husband supported her acting career while they were dating, but changed immediately they got married. She said her husband didn’t support her acting career after they got married and would always become violent and physically assault her whenever she went on a movie set.
The veteran said she didn’t enjoy her marriage for long, as death came knocking on her husband’s door.
Speaking on remarriage, Iya Awero said it isn’t for her as no one can predict what they would face in their next marriage.
“Our love story wasn’t easy. When we were still dating, he supported my acting, he’d even come to watch our rehearsals. But after we got married, everything changed. He insisted I stop working. I told him I couldn’t do that, that acting was my passion and I wasn’t willing to give it up.
When I kept going out to perform, he’d become violent. He beat me more than once for going against his wishes, saying, ‘Didn’t I tell you not to go?’ It reached a point where I had to speak up. I told my bosses, our father figure Chief Duro Ladipo, the late Art Alade, who I worked with on the Bar Beach Show, and Baba Mero. They all stepped in. Baba Mero even came to our house and confronted him directly.
Eventually, I decided I couldn’t stay in the marriage. I told him I was done, that I wanted out so I could keep doing what I loved. At first, he didn’t believe I meant it. But when I disappeared for two days, my bosses sat him down again and explained that this was about my career, not misbehavior or promiscuity. He finally agreed to let me work.
Sadly, we never really got to enjoy the marriage. He died young. I was still very young myself, but I made a decision then, I wouldn’t remarry. I chose to focus entirely on raising my children instead.”
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