Nigerian filmmaker and husband of popular actress, Chacha Eke-Faani, has shared his experience living with a mentally ill partner.
On Chacha’s official Instagram page, a video was posted of Austin Faani sharing some of the episodes his wife experienced and how he was able to help her get through it.
The father of four recounted how he woke up one midnight after hearing a loud noise only to discover his wife standing in front of a huge mirror she had broken.
He stated that his wife claimed to have seen people creeping out of it, so she had to destroy it. In his words:
“One night I was sleeping and the next thing I heard ‘gboah!’ I woke up and I saw my wife in front of a big mirror around 1am. The mirror was on the floor, shattered everywhere.
I said ‘baby what’s going on?’ She said some people were creeping out of the mirror so she had to break it. I said ‘nobody is creeping out of the mirror, come and sleep, you will be fine’.”
Recall that Chacha who has become a proud advocate for mental health issues, recently opened up during one of her outreach events about how she copes with suffering from bipolar disorder.
The the mother of four revealed how she spent days hanging around on Lagos’s beaches, hotels, and streets. She continued by saying that she took a boat to Ghana using a fake ID (Read Here).
The actress recalled a day she felt frightened at home around 3am in the morning, she fled to an Asaba motor park and then travelled to Lagos.
Speaking further, Mr Austin recounted another of his wife’s manic episodes that led to him and six other men bundling her to the hospital.
Austin explained that she was already bleeding and losing blood because she had accidentally harmed herself. According to him, her hands needed to be tied for her to be bundled to where she would get help.
He continued:
“I was in Lagos, my nanny sent me a message that it has started again because she knows, everybody knows. I called a friend of ours, it was him, my friend, like six different men that bundled my wife to the hospital.
They tied her hand…you need to see the humiliation, but she needed to be saved because at that time she had hurt herself accidentally so the blood was everywhere, so they were even scared because she was losing blood and needed to get to the hospital, whatever it took, they did it and took her to the hospital.”
Not stopping there, Austin recounted another episode that led her to go to Ghana and how he had to follow her there. He explained that he needed security operatives to be aware because if he bundled her the way they used to do in Nigeria, people would most likely beat him up.
“The last one is very funny, that one is international. She went to Ghana and I followed her. I had to follow her to Ghana because at that point I knew I’m the only one that understands what is going on, nobody else understood.
On my way to Ghana, I even contacted Mary Njoku, that’s Iroko TV CEO, I was like I’m coming to Ghana, nobody understands this thing, I’m the only one who understands so I need police to guide me because If I do it the way I do it in Nigeria, they might beat me up because I’m going to bundle her, that’s how we always do it because she’s very stubborn, she will not listen to you.
At that point she will be asking you if you’re stupid to think that she’s not okay. She was in the office asking ‘do you know what it means to live with mental illness?’ I asked her, ‘do you know what it means to live with someone that has mental illness? You can know how you feel, I don’t know how you feel, but do you know how I feel being around you? Have you asked that question? She was just looking at me because she’s very smart, when you ask the right questions she knows.”
Austin went on to explain that often, people call him a strong man for doing all he does for his wife. According to him, he feels he is doing it for his friend, and that is where his strength comes from.
Austin noted that he doesn’t think he can exist without Chacha. He disclosed that he knew her from when they were both very young, and all they had was each other. He said:
“Some people say ‘Austin you’re a strong man and I’d be like ‘ehnehn, what I did meant I was strong? Oh okay, but I think I did what I did for my friend. I’ve told her several times that if I wasn’t married to you maybe I would be one of those happily divorced men.
This is my friend, I don’t think I can exist without her so I think that is where the strength comes from, the strength comes from the fact that I knew her when she was very young, we were very young, all we had was each other and a dream, hope, belief, and we moved from there, every other thing is history, so we moved from there.”
In the lengthy video, Chacha showed appreciation to her better half for all he has done for her. According to the actress, he has been very instrumental in her recovery. She said in part:
“He has been very instrumental to my recovery, my children too have been. I have four children and all of them are worried that mummy gets a little bit psycho.”
