Kunle Afolayan: how polygamy affected my father

Filmmaker, Kunle Afolayan, has stated that his father’s choice of 10 wives had a pronounced effect on the late renowned actor.

Afolayan disclosed this during a chat with BBC Pidgin on Wednesday where he discussed his upbringing and his journey in the movie industry as a filmmaker.

Adeyemi Afolayan, Kunle’s late father, was also a popular filmmaker before his death in 1996.

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Afolayan stated that Adeyemi got “distracted” by his polygamous family life.

The young thespian stated that he could not marry many wives because of what happened to his father.

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According to the October 1st director, his late father gave birth to 25 children and they struggled to bond when they were younger due to language and other barriers.

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“I would not want to marry many wives because my father had 10 wives and I knew what happened throughout that period. I knew that really distracted my father. In this age, nobody needs to tell you before you know what’s right,” he said.

Afolayan also disclosed that he had battled poverty in his early days in the movie industry.

“I was born in Ebute-Metta and have lived in a one-room apartment before, we even had to grapple with flooding sometimes. It’s not a shame to say we have been poor before. But if you see how l made it, it’s a matter of consistency. My father was a very popular filmmaker and ordinarily, people would expect me to live the kind of life akin to Hollywood stars,” he said.

“But that wasn’t the case. How would one live such a life when you’re living in a room with 10 women? That doesn’t mean there was no love among u.”