Veteran Nollywood actress Dupe Jayesimi has shared her emotional journey with infertility, admitting that the pain eventually led her to alcoholism.
Jayesimi, in an honest discussion on Biola Bayo’s podcast, discussed her personal challenges. Among those, she mentioned that childlessness was a pressure that led to the collapse of her marriage, although she attempted fertility treatment (IVF) that never became successful.
“I did marry when I was pregnant, but after the wedding, I had a miscarriage,” she stated.
She also recounted another experience, saying, “They did a test, and I was so happy to be expecting a child. I was 40 then and truly appreciated God for the gift but the scan didn’t detect that the pregnancy was at the back of the womb.”
Jayesimi also discussed the emotional strain within her marriage, revealing how her ex-husband grew distant. “Whenever we went to bed, my ex-husband would demarcate the bed with pillows so that our bodies wouldn’t touch. Two weeks after I moved out of the marriage, a pregnant woman moved into the house. I wept,” she stated tearfully.
Additionally, she spoke about the pain of raising other people’s children, only to be reminded that they were not her own. “I raised my younger sister’s child, but on the child’s wedding day, my sister told me, ‘You cannot sit there; even if you spent millions, the child is still mine.’ That broke me,” she said.
Jayesimi admitted that she often danced excessively at social events, not out of joy, but to cover her inner sadness.
“Whenever I go to events, I dance a lot, not because I am impressed by the party, but because I was using it to hide my pain.”
