In an interview with media personality Chude Jideonwo, Nollywood actress Ayo Adesanya bravely opened up about the decade-long domestic abuse she suffered in her marriage to her ex-husband. She shared heart-wrenching details of the emotional pain and turmoil she experienced, and how she turned to alcohol as a means of coping.
“It was something I endured for ten years. There were ups and downs. We had moments of laughter, but overall, it wasn’t a healthy relationship. The abuse was there, the violence was constant, and it never stopped. For ten long years, it was a cycle that didn’t change,” she confessed.
Adesanya painted a poignant picture of those dark moments, recalling how she secretly bought alcohol from a local chemist in Surulere to numb the pain. She revealed that the continuous abuse pushed her into a deep depression, one that she didn’t even recognize at the time. In an effort to escape the emotional and physical pain, she turned to alcohol.
“There was a chemist near where we lived in Surulere, and I would go there to buy a bottle, hide it, and drink it at home. I became an alcoholic. It was only by the grace of God that I didn’t lose myself completely. I didn’t want to feel the pain anymore, the pain from the beatings, from everything,” she shared.
“I was so depressed, though I didn’t even know it was depression at the time. I started drinking to escape it. I would sneak out, buy a bottle of brandy, and go hide in a corner to drink. I just wanted to numb myself. I would drink a whole bottle. I was an alcoholic. There’s no other way to put it,” she revealed.