We were keeping up appearances

Controversial Nigerian broadcaster and media personality Daddy Freeze has opened up about the painful end of his first marriage, revealing that for a long time, he stayed in the relationship out of fear of public embarrassment and church judgment rather than genuine love or happiness.

Speaking during an interview with Chude Jideonwo on the With Chude show, the outspoken OAP admitted that, long before his marriage ended, things had already fallen apart behind closed doors.

“We were keeping up appearances,” Freeze confessed.

“We weren’t even sleeping in the same room anymore, but we were going to church together.”

He explained that one of his biggest fears at the time was how his church community would perceive him if his marriage failed.

“The day she packed her load, the first thing that came to my mind was, ‘Ah, my pastor is going to hear about this,’” he recalled.

“That made me realise I was going to keep staying in this union because I was afraid that I would be demoted.”

Freeze went on to describe how his role in church added pressure to maintain the façade of a happy marriage.

“I used to introduce my pastor in church. I used to MC church events,” he said.

“And I was afraid, can we manage this in such a way that nobody hears? Then I realised that I was the one putting myself in trouble.”

According to him, by the time his wife finally left, their marriage had been dead for a while.

“This union was gone,” he admitted. “We were living in a Cool FM house.

“It was a Saturday. I was sleeping in the room and I started hearing ‘clang, clang, clang.’ I thought they were cleaning the house. I didn’t know they were packing their load.”

He recounted how he discovered the shocking scene minutes later.

“Only for me to come out 45 minutes later, my housegirl looked at me and said, ‘Oga, where have you been? They were packing the load.’ My wife left without even telling me. There was a truck outside.”