Marriage they say is a beautiful thing. In Africa, marriage is an important part of a person’s life. Breaking it down to Nollywood, there are a lot of beautiful women in the make-believe industry, light, brown, or dark-skinned; some tall, short, plus-sized, or slim, all beautiful in their own special ways. Many of these women are either single, married, or divorced. A good number of these married actresses that have been able to hold on to a marriage have come to accept their lots of being the second wife. Some of these marriages, fortunately, withstand the test of time while in some cases after rushing into the arms of the other woman’s man, end up rushing out. Here are a few of these Nollywood actresses who allegedly settled as second wives at some point, in no particular order.
Topping the list is the most recent addition to the list of actresses who are second wives.
1. Mercy Aigbe
Popular Nollywood actress, Mercy Aigbe seems not to care about her reputation when it comes to marriage as the movie star is not new to playing second fiddle and not just with her recent union. Mercy was formerly married to Lanre Gentry, but what you didn’t know is that Gentry was married to another Nollywood actress, Bimbo Akinsanya before Mercy Aigbe got pregnant for him. Mercy was then nick-named a ‘husband snatcher’ by a fellow actress after she got married to Lanre Gentry in 2013. The union came to an end in 2019 amidst claims of infidelity and domestic violence. Lanre Gentry was also previously married to Temitayo Lewis-Gentry who is said to live in the US with their 3 kids.
Fast forward to January 23, 2022, the actress once again sparked reactions on social media after introducing Kazim Adeoti aka Adekaz, as her man. Kazim is married with kids. Although fans of the actress berated her for snatching another woman’s husband, the actress seems unruffled. She says her husband is entitled to more than one wife because his religion allows it.
2. Wumi Ajiboye
Popular Nollywood actress, Wumi Ajiboye is not an unknown face in Yoruba movies as she has starred in many. The pretty actress got married to fellow actor, Segun Ogungbe. Segun had earlier married Atinuke before proceeding to marry Wumi Ajiboye as his second wife. Wumi has two sons for her husband.
3. Mercy Johnson-Okojie
One of the most talented and sought-after actresses in the English sector of Nollywood, Mercy Johnson is also a second wife to her husband, Prince Odianosen Okojie. Many may not know this, as the couple is always quick to post loved-up pictures. However, Prince Odi was formerly married to a Canadian-based lady named Lovely, who has two kids for him.
In 2011, the issue became public, when Lovely took to social media with claims that she is the legally married wife of Prince Odianose, who Mercy was planning to get married to, and that she can’t get abandoned like that because she was still legally married to her husband, Prince Okojie.
4. Mosun Filani
Popular Yoruba Actress cum businesswoman, Mosunmola Filani secretly got married to Kayode Emmanuel Oduoye in 2012. The light-skinned Yoruba actress, surprised her fans when it became known Filani tied the knot with Oduoye. Yemisi Oduoye was still married to Simeon at the time. Yemisi has two kids for him.
Mosun, who allegedly dated colleagues, Odunlade Adekola and Muyiwa Ademola, was said to have hijacked Simeon to herself but Mosun has denied being in a relationship with either actor and she says her husband was already divorced before they tied the knot.
5. Ini Edo
In November 2008 Ini Edo got married to Philip Ehiagwina, a businessman. Edo had a second wedding in February 2009 in America. Their relationship had been pubic, not just because Edo is a well-sort after actress, but also because Ehiagwina had already been married, to Ruth Okoro, a Nigerian-American model, and actress.
Okoro and Ehiagwina fought dirty in public, saying terrible things about each other. Unfortunately, Ini Edo’s union didn’t last the marriage hit the rocks in September 2014.
6. Liz Da-Silva
There hasn’t been any concrete evidence that this Togolese-Nigerian actress, Liz Dasilva has married her baby’s father who she bore a son for, but the fact that the actress went ahead to convert from Christianity to Islam in 2013, changing her name from Elizabeth to Aishat, in a bid to please her supposed husband, Alhaji Olaoye, is a sign that there’s a story there.
Alhaji Olaoye who was married to Zainab with a daughter took Liz as his wife. The relationship between the actress and Alhaja Olaoye soon hit the rocks and in December 2020, via a video, Liz Da-Silva revealed she got married in October of the same year.
7. Stella Damasus
Stella Damasus sure has a record when it comes to men. She married her first husband, Jaiye Aboderin, at 21 in 1999. The couple had two daughters before Jaiye died suddenly in 2005. In 2007, Damasus gave love a chance and got remarried, this time to Emeka Nzeribe. The marriage lasted for seven months before a mutual agreement to divorce.
Then in 2011, the news had it that she was involved with Nollywood producer and director Daniel Ademinokan; a relationship that sparked a lot of controversies all over Nigeria because both parties never publicly admitted to be dating, engaged or even married until 2014 due to the fact that Daniel Ademinokan was married to another actor, Doris Simeon at the time. Stella relocated abroad with Daniel and her two daughters and in 2020, the union came to an end!
8. Ronke Odusanya
Famous Yoruba actress, Ronke Odusanya, who is popularly known as Flakky Ididowo, according to reports secretly got married to Femi Anibaba in the US in 2014. Femi Anibaba was previously married to Folape Sokoya who claimed she had been married to him for over 12 years and that they have three children together before Ronke came into the picture.
Meanwhile, the actress with her beau, Olanrewaju Saheed aka Jago, welcomed their baby girl, Fifehanmi, on August 19, 2019. In 2020, their union was marred by claims of infidelity with her husband requesting DNA on their daughter.
9. Funke Akindele
Funke’s first marriage was to Mr. Kehinde Oloyede in a very glamorous wedding and it can be said to be one of the shortest marriages in the history of Nollywood. The actress became divorced no sooner than she got married to Mr Oloyede who already had about six children from three women. Funke later married Nigerian rapper Abdul Rasheed Bello, known as JJC Skillz, in London in May 2016 and they are parents to twin boys.
