The veteran Nigerian actress, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, recently had an interview with BBC Yoruba where she disclosed that she got married to her husband, Captain Matthew Ekeinde, when she was 18.
In her interview, Omotola stated that she was ready for marriage and was already a millionaire at 18 when she married her husband 25 years ago.
When she was asked if she would allow any of her children to marry at the age of 18 like she did, she responded:
“I was at the age of consent when I got married and above all, I was mature when I met my husband. Currently, I have only one child that is 18 years old, so the question is late. He is a boy and peradventure, he says he wants to get married, I will not allow it because he does not have his own money now.
“One must apply wisdom or common sense in everything one does. People cannot say that because I married at 18, therefore they can also do it. The question is, ‘are you ready for marriage’? When I was at that age, I was ready. I had been working since I was 15-years-old and I had become a millionaire at the age of 18. That is a fact that a lot of people don’t know.
“I had my own money. I was not dependent on any man. Moreover, my father died early, so I was already responsible for my younger siblings. I was like their mother at that time, so I was very mature and financially prepared. One should not marry a man when one is not financially stable.
“If one does that, one would be going into slavery or better still, prison. If any of my children, after considering all these factors, say they are ready for marriage, we (parents) would meet the person and if we like them, we would give them our blessings.”
