Popular music star and actor, Bankole Wellington, confessed that he slept around and engaged in pornography. He said his life felt completely empty even though people regarded him as very wealthy and successful. He stated that his life was very meaningless without Jesus Christ and urged people everywhere to find purpose in Christ.
Wellington, who is popularly known as Banky W and is now a pastor, made this revelation during an interview session at The Visibility Lunch Hour.
“There were things I was struggling with on a personal basis,” he said. “Everything from promiscuity to pornography, real things that people struggled with on a personal basis. It got to a stage where you feel you’re in bondage and so you’re just stuck in this place of feeling far from God, feeling separated from God. Feeling that I have made a little bit of money, but I’m still not happy.”
Banky W is married to famous Nollywood actress Adesua Etomi and they have a child. They got married in a lavish wedding ceremony in South Africa in November 2017. The talented singer and dancer also featured in several blockbuster movies such as The Return of Jenifa (2011), The Wedding Party (2016), The Wedding Party 2 (2017), Up North (2018) and Sugar Rush 2019.
“I’m grateful for the small success I have experienced in music, in film, in other ventures,” he disclosed. “But there is what I like to call a God-shaped void inside every man. Until you start to fill that void with God, you’ll find that you will come up short regardless of what success you have or how successful or happy you may seem in the eyes of the world. There is an emptiness you feel when you are disconnected from that source.”
Having recorded tremendous success in music, movies and other businesses, Banky W contested for the Eti-Osa federal constituency in Lagos State as a potential member of the House of Representatives in 2018, but he lost. He contested the elections again in February 2019 but lost to Babajide Obanikoro of the APC. Banky W’s wealth is estimated to be around $9 million.
