In Nigeria, over the past year, we have had cases of suicide or attempted suicide. Some celebrities have also confessed that they attempted suicide at some point.
Different things lead to suicide and even celebrities who we think are financially okay and living their best lives actually go through lots of personal issues and a good number of them have attempted suicide at one point or the other in their lives.
Here are 8 Nigerian celebrities who have attempted suicide at some point in their lives.
1. Tee Billz
The news of Tee Billz’s attempted suicide went viral. It was widely reported that he was going through a major family crisis after he had accused his wife of infidelity and neglect. He also accused his mother-in-law of bewitching him.
Prior to attempting suicide, he made series of posts on his Instagram page making known his intention to take his own life at the Ikoyi-Lekki bridge in Lagos. Thankfully, a few of his friends came to his rescue.
2. Toke Makinwa
Media personality, Toke Makinwa who lost her parents in a fire accident has also attempted suicide after her marriage with fitness expert, Maje Ayida hit the rocks.
According to her, she suffered from a lot of depression and lost hope of living. Then one day as she was sitting in her bedroom a very strong thought came for her to drink a bottle of Dettol, just die to avoid the shame and ridicule.
“I was sitting in the bedroom one day. There was a bottle of Dettol in the bathroom and a thought came, very strong, “Just drink it and die. What’s the point? The whole world is laughing at you right now. Just end it.”
3. Tonto Dikeh
Nollywood actress, Tonto Dikeh whose marriage to Churchill has been annulled after a series of accusations and backlash from both parties revealed that she suffered from depression in 2013 and attempted to take her life.
But because she is a very strong person who loves her self so much, she did not allow it eat her up so she enrolled in a depression class.“I would say I have a great and strong personality. I love myself so much. I am not also as shy as most people think I am. I didn’t let depression eat me up.”
4. Julius Agwu
Nigerian comedian, Julius Agwu who suffered from brain tumor disclosed that the experience after discovering he had the disease was not wonderful at all.
After he discovered he had brain tumor, all he wanted to do was to commit suicide while he searched for his property documents to give to his wife as he prepared for death. He said this during an interview with Inspaya.
“I started looking for my property documents to give to my wife. One day when they were not home, I almost committed suicide.”
5. Ubi Franklin
Ubi Franklin shared a post on his Instagram page where he revealed that he almost committed suicide between July 2016 and March 2017 when he struggled hard to overcome bouts of depression that nearly pushed him to commit suicide.
“I had thought that the depression would stop at this point, but, to my dismay, it didn’t. Even after I finished paying for my mortgage, it grew worse.“I was so scared and all I kept saying and asking myself was ‘Who will take care of my son? I got home and started acting in a funny manner. My security guard had already turned on the generator. I screamed at him to turn it off that I needed some peace and quiet. I was in that dark house all by myself and everything was falling part.”
6. Eva Alordiah
Nigerian rapper, Eva Alordiah, also took to her Instagram page on her 31st birthday which was on the 13th of August to reveal how she suffered depression and almost too her own life. She said it took her a long walk to get to where she is now. From almost taking her own life to living her life with a single mission to help others live theirs better.
She wrote: “Apparentlyyyyyy!!!! This is what 31 looks like. It’s been a long walk to get here, from almost taking my own life to being here now, living my life with a single mission to help you live yours better. I am blessed indeed.Use me as proof that you can overcome too. The next year is going to be ooooohhhh so good, I am excited for what we will accomplish together.Thank you for your sweetness, you have made me feel more alive!”
7. John Okafor
The comic actor said that he would have taken his life since 1997 due to the hardship he faced in life. He said that at that point in his life, things were so hard that he could barely afford to feed himself. To make matters worse, the actor said he had no roof over his head and suicide seemed like the easiest option.
“Do you know that there was a day that I had prepared to kill myself in Ajao Estate? That day, I was prepared to jump into a well because of the situation that surrounded me. Three days before that day, I had not eaten and I did not have hope of eating for the next week. I was only surviving on water and I hate it when I bother anyone. Most of my close friends were not bothered about my well-being even though it was obvious that I was not alright.
“I remember December 18, 1997, a friend of mine who I squatted with called me in the morning and told me that he would be going home for Christmas and he did not want anyone to be in his room. I assured him that no one would come to his place but he said he wanted me out of the room. I told him that I did not have another place to stay and he should trust me that as usual, I would take good care of the place.
“Though I was older than him, I did all the washing and cleaning of the house to the extent that I washed his panties and underwear. I did that so that I could have a roof over my head. But out of anger, that my friend went into the house, brought out all my things and threw them outside, then he told me to leave his house, he locked his door and leftrom where I was seated, I was looking at the well.
“I thought to myself, ‘is it not better to end my life by jumping into the well so that when people return in the evening and they need water, they would discover my body and my friend would know that he was the reason I committed suicide?’ I went to the well and as I opened the lid and prepared to jump inside, the image of my mother’s face flashed through my mind. I quickly closed the well and began to wonder how my mother knew that I wanted to kill myself.
My mother was still alive at the time; she was about 80 years old. I went back and leaned by the wall. A neighbour, Francis, was playing a song by Michael Bolton titled ‘When I am back on my Feet Again.’ The song gave me hope and I decided to stay alive,” he said.
8. Mo’Cheddah
Nigerian rapper, Modupe-Oreoluwa Ola, aka Mo’Cheddah opened up about her secret battles with depression and suicidal thoughts in an interview with DANG Network in 2018.
The 29-year-old singer said she never knew hate till she came into the music industry, saying she was really hated by her much older colleagues, especially after she won the Channel O music award.
“The industry was hostile… I would be performing and they would turn off my microphone because the A-list artist doesn’t like me. I didn’t get it, I didn’t know there was hate… I never knew hate. How do I meet a legend and I kneel down to say hi to her and she is like ‘Get off me’, a woman I have looked up to for years, the industry was hostile,” she stated.
She went further to reveal how she almost took her life but had to stop because she knew her death would terribly affect her husband who was then her boyfriend.
“I felt as I had failed, especially because I had thought that business will pick up. They had so much hate for me, they started bad-mouthing me to people, to companies, to producers, so I was kind of blacklisted, so you know all that time people were saying, where is Mo’Cheddah, nobody wanted to work with me because they hated me and they wanted to do everything in their power to ruin me and I felt God forsook me, sadness consumed me.
“I googled ”there is this darkness inside me” and I saw a lot of people had it, they were talking about depression. The only reason I did not kill myself, first I didn’t know how I will kill myself. I thought about it so many times… I thought of drowning myself in the 3rd Mainland Bridge, at times I wanted it to be quick, so I will be praying that God should just kill me.”
Mo’ Cheddah released her debut studio album, Franchise Celebrity, while signed to Knighthouse Entertainment. The album was preceded by the 2009 promotional single “If You Want Me”, which shot her into the limelight.
