Actress Ajai-Lycett speaks on becoming a mom at 15, a dropout at 16
- Nollywood actress and life coach, Taiwo Ajai-Lycett, has opened up on her life experiences
- In an interview with The Nation, she recounted how she became a mother at the age of 15
- Ajai-Lycett also spoke about being widowed at 52 and walking out on her second marriage which was abusive
Indeed, when life gives one lemons, making lemonades is often the best option to go with. Talented Nollywood actress and life coach, Taiwo Ajai-Lycett, is certainly a living proof of what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.
In a recent interview with The Nation, she opened up on her tumultuous past and how she moved on from several heartbreaking experiences and never let it define her.
She revealed in the interview how she became a mother at the tender age of 15 and was made to drop out of school by age 16. In her words: "I was 15 years old when I had a child. I became a teenage mother. By 16, I was on my own. My father wanted me to abort the pregnancy at first. But my mother thought I was a young girl. I was a baby. So, she had to spirit me away. I had the baby somewhere in Yaba. But after delivery, my father got attached to the baby. The child became his playmate.”
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She stated that despite being tagged a promiscuous girl and being ignored by her father, she never gave up on bettering herself. Her father insisted that the man who got her pregnant, Adebanji Adefolaju, must marry her and he agreed. Adefolaju however, died in the Lalupon train disaster on September 29, 1957.
A while after, she moved to the UK after a friend of a friend proposed marriage to her. Against her father's wishes, she left for the UK and got married to the man identified as David Akinduro, the following morning. But she soon found out he was an abusive man who tried to prevent her from growing despite her being the one financially responsible for his schooling.
So when he finished and became an accountant, she divorced him and moved into her own apartment to start her life afresh.
Ajai-Lycett’s life took an interesting turn afterwards. She met Thomas Lycett, who was with Shell, a petroleum company.
“I met Lycett long after I divorced my first husband. By the time I met him, I was a big name in acting and business. By that time, I was studying to get a Law degree and my acting career was in full swing.
I was looking for an apartment and at the one I got, some people living in a big apartment, like a condominium, gave me a welcome party because I was a big name. They were all artistes too. For the party, they invited Lycett, who lived across the road and we got talking. We talked about books. He was a bibliophile like me. He told me he wasn’t interested in a casual affair. He said he wanted marry me. He was very quiet, very clever, very perceptive, very deep…I was studying to be an Accountant then. I was doing this and that. I was obsessed about studying.”
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She continued: "Eventually I married Thomas Lycett in between a stage production. We had a blissful marriage. He died when I was 52-years-old. I remember him everyday. He was the one that told me that I was better off being an actor. He advised me to return to Nigeria, to teach people and share my acting gift.
I was married to an incredible man for 25 years. In 1971, the idea of coming back home was born. I came to rebuild, because I believe in the industry and how it should be structured. By the time I came back to Nigeria, I had become notable. I was known in the acting world and business."
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Unfortunately, in 2006, Ajai-Lycett was robbed and raped in her house in Egbe. The same compound hosted TAL House, her private school. Then 65, she said:
“I ran TAL House, a private school I meant to do good with it but my staff orchestrated an attack on me. I was tied. I was beaten. I was brutalized. My health was ruined. I was blindfolded and raped. The man who raped me complained that he couldn’t gain easy entry into me because I wasn’t wet. I told him ‘widows don’t get wet.’ I kept talking to them and asked them repeatedly, ‘Are you doing this to your mother?’ Angrily, they taped my mouth but I remained fearless and prayed all through the attack.”
She shut down the school and left Egbe after the incident. She described it as one of the hardest decisions she had to make considering the school was doing well at the time. She however, went through with it as she wasn't in for the money.
She further revealed that she did not attempt to pursue the case even though she knew the people behind the attack, much to the surprise of the police.
Explaining the reason for the attack, she said, “They felt I was too strict. They were stealing from me and became openly hostile to me. They tried to take over my business. It felt like I didn’t own the place. When the robbery happened, I shut TAL House."
Speaking further, she had this to say:
“Look at me today, I am over it. See, the mind is a beautiful thing. When you hold on to past hurt, you tie yourself down to grief. You get infected with its poison. Rather than wallow in grief and self-pity, I picked myself up and sought medical help, ensuring that they hadn’t infected me with any STD. Then I moved on. That same year, the Olusegun Obasanjo government got me the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) national honour.”
Meanwhile, earlier on, Legit.ng reported the news of how an FCT high court sitting in Bwari, Abuja, dismissed the sexual molestation case between Busola and the popular pastor. She was also charged a fine of N1,000,000 as Justice Musa explained that it should have been 10 times more for wasting the court’s time.
Following the news which broke out a few days ago, the controversial man of God has spoken out for the first time. In a Sunday service filled with excited followers, he mounted the pulpit to react to the seemingly good news.
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