‘It Was Heartbreaking How The Public Blamed Me’ – Tiwa Savage Opens Up About Messy Divorce From Ex-husband, TeeBillz
Nigerian music icon, Tiwa Savage has opened up about her messy divorce from Tunji ‘TeeBillz’ Balogun, revealing the challenges she faced during and after their separation 6 years ago.
Tiwa recounted how TeeBillz announced their marital issues online, leaving her to bear the brunt of public backlash.
Recall that TeeBillz announced their divorce in 2018. He made their marital issues public as he wanted to commit suicide by attempting to jump into the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos, in 2016 (read here).
The duo then engaged in ‘war of words’ on the social media. Teebillz had accused his wife of sleeping around with men and that her mother was a witch.
Tiwa, who shares a son with Teebillz, in turn granted a 45 minutes video interview to debunk the accusations.
Speaking on The Receipts Podcast recently, Tiwa disclosed that her estranged husband was responsible for their split, which occurred amidst her struggle with postpartum depression.
According to her, she did not break up with him. She explained that TeeBillz announced the divorce while she was still struggling with postpartum depression after the birth of their son.
SEE ALSO: Is Teebillz Contemplating Suicide? Curses Tiwa Savage, Comes For His Father
The 44-year-old mom described the intense criticism she endured after the announcement, with many Nigerians turning against her and attacking her character.
The single mom also stated that it was heartbreaking how the public blamed her for the marriage breakup, adding she became ‘African Bad Girl’ afterwards.
After attempting to share her side of the story, the singer said the criticism worsened.
She shared:
“People said, ‘How dare you go and talk?’ I was told I’d never win because I was a woman. It was heartbreaking.
“When I came out, I was Nigeria’s sweetheart when I started and I could do no wrong in Nigerian’s eyes. I did everything by the book. I went to university and I wasn’t a baby mama.
I got married then I had a baby so I did everything in the right order and everybody loved me and then everything happened.
Then I started getting hate from blogs and I started getting hate from certain people. The way our situation happened, he announced it online. I didn’t break up with him but I was the one being attacked.
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At the time, my baby was just a few months old and I was dealing with postpartum and my body wasn’t the same and I was depressed. Everyone then went to him and only a few people came to see me.
After I interviewed to tell my side of the story, it got worse. People were like ‘How dare you go and talk’ ‘You’re a woman and you’re supposed to build the house, it’s your fault’.
I remember famous people calling me to ask how I could tell my side of the story cuz I’d never win. Ever since then, I was like I won’t ever talk about the situation because it was very heartbreaking how the public took it and blamed me.”
It was an eye-opener for me and it made me depressed for so long. It got me angry then I became the ‘African Bad Girl’.
I thought to myself that after doing everything right I was still attacked. Then I started getting tattoos and wearing short skirts and bikini. I was just wild.”