“Mutual Stubbornness, Unforgiveness Broke My First Marriage”

Nigerian media personality Daddy Freeze has opened up about the heartache of being estranged from his children, disclosing that he has not seen them in almost ten years since his first divorce.

In a recent WithChude interview uploaded to YouTube on Saturday, Daddy Freeze, whose real name is Ifedayo Olarinde, referred to his marriage with his first wife, Opeyemi, as a relationship between “two damaged people.”

The 49-year-old confessed that they were too young and immature for marriage, noting that their union was largely driven by the fact that she was pregnant.

The media personality blamed the breakdown of their marriage, which ended in 2014 amid allegations of adultery and domestic violence, on a mix of mutual stubbornness and an unwillingness to forgive.

Freeze admitted to his own faults, noting that their conflicts fueled a destructive cycle.

“My ex-wife and I are very stubborn people. We no dey hear word. She will not hear, and I will not hear. I married at 24, she was 22. We were very young, very immature; we had no business getting married. She was pregnant, and we were dating. If she were not pregnant, I am not sure we would have gotten married,” he said.

“So it was one of the factors that influenced the marriage; it was two damaged people in a union. She also had trust issues. It was not like I was a good person, not like I was trustworthy, but like ten crimes, I committed only four and that made the Monte Carlo effect come in again.

“She was not quick to forget, quick to forgive, quick to look away. She focused on the bad sides of me; we were very immature about how we ended the marriage. She said if I do not pay school fees, I am not going to see the kids, and I said if I do not see the kids, I am not going to pay school fees.

“It was another Monte Carlo situation over and over again. At each point, I’m sure she believed that I would back down and I believed that she would back down.”

Freeze revealed that his greatest regret is that his children have grown up without him being present in their lives.

He disclosed that his two children live abroad and, although he knows where they are, he has chosen not to “sneak up on them,” out of respect for their space.

Freeze, who wed Benedicta Elechi in 2022, said that the initial three to five years following the separation were especially challenging.

He added that the emotional burden of being estranged from his children for nearly a decade still weighs heavily on him.

“My only pain is marriage, no work, everybody don go. Can I see my kids? Can I even talk to them on the phone? I am sure right now she is Pentecostal. I actually believe in Pentecostalism because of her, so she is also probably going to see me as the Antichrist, the devil,” he said.

“Can the Antichrist see his children? They are not in Nigeria; they are out of the country. I traced them to where they are, but I do not want to sneak up on them. If they want to see me, a DM on social… I am the easiest person. It was tough, it has been nearly ten years. It was tough for the first three to five years.”

Watch him speak below…