Actor Femi Branch’s Wife Reveals Why She Quit Her 10-Year-Old Marriage

Popular Nollywood actor, Femi Branch has separated from his third wife after she claimed to have beaten her and she couldn’t take it.

In a recent interview, Encomium.ng spoke with the estranged wife on what led to their marriage break up.

Apart from being beaten, her story of financial deprivation laced with humongous lies by her actor husband of ten years whom she accused of living a reckless life, sounds unimaginable.

Read some of the excerpts from the interview:

We heard that you and Femi Branch have called it quit. Is it true?

Yes, it is

What actually happened?

I came back from work that day, and he went out as well. I waited till 11 pm and I didn’t see him. I tried calling him on phone when I didn’t see him. He complained that I was screaming, I apologized for screaming and I asked him for his whereabouts. I told him he wouldn’t have gone that long since he wasn’t on location. All he said was that he was coming, he also said I was screaming which I apologised for again. But Femi did not come back to the house till 1am. I was up waiting since he said he was coming. When he came, I went to open the gate and I told his friend that I wouldn’t come down that late again if he comes back late. I was really upset. I asked his friend to warn him because of another time. I added that he should be telling me if he would come home or not because that wasn’t his first time. The next thing Femi said was, �You dey craze.” And I replied the same way. He started bragging, �Do you know who you are talking to? I am Femi Branch ,” and he descended on me and started beating me. He was hitting me hard and his friend was trying to stop him. He left me and went upstairs and told me to meet him upstairs. His friend said I shouldn’t go, but where will I go by that time? So I went upstairs. Femi continued beating me and insulting me. His friend tried to intervene again, all these while I never raised my hands against him. You can imagine him with his stature hitting me. His friend said I shouldn’t sleep in the house, so I followed him because he was also a married man with a kid. I slept in his house that night.

Was is the name of his friend?

I wouldn’t want to drag him into this, it was a close friend of his.

Would that be the first time he would be beating you?

The truth is, that was the first time. But before then, he had pushed me hard against the bed that I almost hit my head on the wall. That was two years ago. Such things don’t happen without signs, him pushing me the first time and now beating me. It could develop into something else. I have always said I can’t stay in a marriage if the man is beating me, I know I can get killed if it continues. I have risked my life enough in that marriage so I decided to leave.

What happened next after moving to his friend’s house?

The second day, his younger brother asked me to come over to his own house as he wasn’t happy I was staying in a friend’s house. I moved there and was shuttling between that place and my sister’s house till I could get a place of my own.

What were the signs that showed things were getting really bad?

The issue is that we women see signs even before marriage. I would like to say that Femi came extremely late on our wedding day. People were already waiting for almost three hours before Femi came and he was not apologetic about it?

What exactly happened?

I don’t know, but it took him almost three hours before he showed up and he was not remorseful about it. Then, when I got married to him, he has only paid my daughter’s school fees for just one term. My daughter is nine years, that means I am the one who has been responsible for her upkeep.

What was his excuse for not being responsible?

He made me believe he does not have money. Later on, I heard he goes out and spends money anyhow. He goes to clubs, pops champagne and spends crazily. It was a regular occurrence, people used to call me that he was in one hotel or the other. There was this particular day someone called me that he was in a hotel spending money. That person knew Femi was not responsible at home. All I was trying to do was to patch the marriage and make sure things were fine. You know in the African setting when you are married, you have to endure. Up till this moment that I am talking to you, he doesn’t know how his children are eating or faring. The last time he saw them was January this year. He said they should spend the New Year with him and he returned them empty handed.

Was there no time you called him to order?

Several times, we spoke severally. He was always saying jobs were not coming, he doesn’t have money.

Has he filed for divorce?

We are just separated, not divorced.

How come he is getting married again?

We had a white wedding and a traditional one.

But you had a marriage certificate?

Yes, we were given one but we are not divorced. We got married in a white garment church.

Why did you leave your children in the first instance?

When I left the house, my children were with my parents for holiday. When the holiday was over, I went to pick my children and took them back to our house. I told them to go upstairs that I was coming. I then turned my back and left. I did that not because I wanted to leave my children, but I wanted his family to be sure of all I had been saying,). I knew he can’t take care of those children.

I was crying when I left and I prayed that I would get them back, it was not up to two weeks that Femi took the children to the village, to his parents. He did not drop money for their upkeep or anything, so his parents took them to public school and he never visited them for once in that four months they were there from April to July. I went there two times to check on them, I later called him that I wanted the children back. He said was l not the one who dumped them before? I told him I needed to make a statement that he couldn’t take care of his children that was why I left them in the first place. He eventually released the children. Arrangement was made, he picked them up and dropped them at his brother’s house and I picked them there.

Was there no intervention from his siblings or parents to reconcile the two of you?

When the incident happened, some of his elder brothers tried to call and I told them that I was no longer interested. Family members were trying to reconcile but the person that caused the trouble was not remorseful. He did not apologize for beating me, he didn’t say he was sorry. This was the same person that had an accident in 2012 on location. I was the only one taking care of him. You know marriages have their own challenges, I have stayed through thick and thin. I covered up for so long, my mum will always call me, Are you okay? Are you sure you are okay? I almost shut my mum up on his case. I have never done that in my life. My mum will always complain that I was always telling her he was on location, that it means he doesn’t have time for his family. But I always calm her down. His family tried but I have made up my mind about the marriage. I don’t think I can endure any longer. If Femi reads this, he knows that I am not lying. I was practically fending for the family throughout the ten years. Someone asked me, Does it mean he has not done anything good for you in the last ten years? And I told the person the bad he did was far more than the good. I don’t want my daughter to go through what I went through in marriage, and I don’t want my son to be like his father.

You left him in April and he’s getting married a year after, do you suspect they started dating before you left him?

I don’t think so. I heard the church he attends now did the matchmaking.

Did the church call to intervene in the case?

No, they never did. No one knows what he told them about me.