GENDER
6 African female gospel musicians who suffered from disastrous marriages.
One would have thought that an anointed, soul-winning Gospel minister’s marriage would have been full of bliss.
However, it is increasingly becoming common that in recent times, marriages of such artists are being saddled with some of the scariest breakups and controversies ever.
Unfortunately, these ministers of the Gospel are compelled to either suffer in silence or endure to an extent before filing for a divorce and this is due to the unreal expectations people have about them.
Not failing to recognize that these musicians, just like other human beings, are also vulnerable, they are mostly judged and referred to scriptures in the Bible that speak against divorce.
But in all, there is an undeniable fact that African Gospel singers have experienced some of the worst forms of tragedies in their marriages.
Let’s take a look at some of them below:
Late Nigerian singer, Osinachi Nwachukwu
Popular Nigerian Gospel singer, Osinachi Nwachukwu, known for her hit song ‘Ekwueme,’ died on Friday, April 8, at a hospital in Abuja.
The elder sister of the deceased, Miss Made, while confirming the incident, disclosed that she died as a result of a cluster of blood in her chest after she was kicked in the area by her husband, Peter Nwachukwu.
“The husband, Mr. Peter Nwachukwu hit her with his leg on the chest…she fell down and he took her to the hospital but he did not even tell us. It was her friend who lives in Ebonyi state that called her twin sister,” she said.
Miss Made established that Osinachi’s husband had been abusing her in their marriage before her untimely death.
“Before now, we told her to come out of the marriage, we told her that they are not divorcing, that it’s just separation. But she felt that God is against divorce,” she told Nigeria’s Vanguard portal.
Formerly “Christiana Love,” she was married to Pastor Hammond Love but their relationship was cast in a negative light as she and her ex-husband took to a live radio interview to settle scores, laying bare in public all their private marriage issues.
Unfortunately, the marriage ended with accusations of infidelity and domestic violence traded among the two.
She went on to re-marry and gave birth to a baby boy for the new man although her marriage with Pastor Love, the father of three of her children, is yet to be officially dissolved.
The popular Gospel musician remarried after years of being a single mother following her failed marriage to Rev. Ahenka.
Esther Smith and her husband Rev. Kwame Ahenkan Bonsu (to whom she had been married for four years) were involved in an acrimonious divorce that was played out in the Ghanaian media.
While the singer accused Rev. Ahenkan of beating her up and having an affair with their house help, her husband also accused her of cheating on him with another man.
After the accusations and counter-accusations had been going on for some time, the marriage was dissolved.
Amid all that turmoil, Esther Smith, who was pregnant, gave birth to their third child in Germany.
Joyce Blessing
Joyce Blessing adds up to the number of Gospel musicians whose marriages suffered setbacks and landed in the public domain.
Married to Dave Joy, who doubled as her manager, the couple were known to have been blessed with three children.
However, in the year 2020, their beautiful union was reported to have come to an end over infidelity claims.
Among other issues the marriage was struck with, there were claims that one out of the three children was not for Dave Joy.
This was after Dave Joy secretly conducted a DNA test on all three of their children.
The two have since been separated and are going about their individual lives.
Diana Hopeson
Formerly Diana Akiwumi, the musician separated from her husband some years ago over claims of abuse.
She recently revealed that the problem that led to the collapse of her first marriage was entirely a medical, emotional and psychological one, on the part of her former husband.
She is now married to Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Hopeson, another preacher.
Singer, Empress Gifty, was married to Prophet Prince Elisha Osei, a preacher.
The two had been together for about 10 years before splitting up in 2014 after which they legally ended their marriage in 2017.
The Gospel songstress is currently married to the New Patriotic Patry’s Hopeson Adorye.
