“I Wish I Can Just Die” – Funke Akindele Talks about Her Divorce, Arrest, Hopes

Veteran Nollywood actress, Funke Akindele, has gone done memory line to celebrate her fifth wedding anniversary with Abdulrasheed Bello, popularly known as JJC Skillz. The 43-year-old brain behind the successful “Jenifa’s Diary” comedy sit-com said she regretted rushing into marriage the first time, and that her second marriage with Skillz has been nothing but amazing.

Funke said her first marriage to Kehinde Adeola Oloyede-Almaroof failed for a number of factors. But her greatest regret with the marriage was that she was forced into it. She said the society pressured her into getting into marriage even when a lot of things were not properly in place to make the marriage work. She cautioned people against pressuring young and ambitious ladies into marriage when their mind is not set on it.

“I have never addressed this issue, but I will do now to encourage ladies that are pressured to get married,” she said. “Please calm down and take your time because if you rush in, you rush out, that is the lesson learned. I just wanted to get married then, have children because I was being pressured by society here and there, and then it didn’t work out and ended in a bad way.”

She said the news of her breakup with Almaroof hit the social media like a wave and it almost devastated her. She became depressed and the bad publicity cost her some juicy deals which was about to come her way. But she got back on her feet and forged ahead with her film-making projects. And then she met and married Skillz in May 2016 and today, they have two kids. Her marriage and divorce to Almaroof was childless.

But Funke swam into rough waters again in 2020 when she was arrested for violating COVID-19 lockdown protocols by hosting an indoor birthday party. She said she wished she could just die when she got to police headquarters in Panti because of the negativity that surrounded her arrest, but the police officers encouraged her to be strong.

“In Panti after I was arrested, when they said I should write my statement, I said ‘I wish I can just die’. The man said ‘ahan koto yen naw’ (why, it’s not as bad as you make it). I said ‘Yes, let me just die so it’ll cover the whole thing’. But after a while, I took it back.”

Funke encouraged women and people everywhere to be strong in the face of life challenges. She said it is natural to break down when troubles overwhelm, but people should rise up fast again and put the bad times behind them.