Nollywood actress, Funke Akindele, has revealed the emotional stress she went through while facing online backlash for not having a husband.
The movie star recently revealed she got emotionally drained during her battle with online trolls who never took a break from mocking her for staying unmarried after her recent divorce.
Speaking during an intimate conversation with popular media personality, Chude Jideonwo at the debut of his talk show, #WithChudeLive, Funke admitted that she sees all the insults online, and the persistent trolling really got to her at some point.
According to the filmmaker, a viral clip once circulated on social media showing a group of women mocking her for not having a man to call her husband, and they even went as far as saying she really enjoys leaving one husband for another.
“There was a video on social media that some women mocked me that I don’t have a husband. My God. I see all the insults on social media. I see all the posts that show how I left one husband for another one.
I cried, cried, and cried. I just told myself, you need to speak to someone about this. You can’t continue like this.
I told myself that I needed to speak, I reached out, and I started speaking.
After then, I felt better. Things I couldn’t tell people out there. I spoke to my therapist and I was better,” she said.
Funke said that after shedding uncontrollable tears for several weeks, one day, she finally decided to speak out about her struggles, and she has been a stronger woman ever since.
The talented actress believes that victims of online abuse must learn to reach out to others and speak up, because trying to take it all in will only lead to bottling up the pain and eventually exploding when you least expect it.
She revealed that voicing out enabled her to develop a tougher skin to handle the mean trolls, and she was recently strong enough to even produce a movie out of what she was mocked for.
“So, I want to advise you out there. It’s very important for you to speak up. You need it. You can’t take everything. I’m a very strong person now. I have that strength to face any challenges in life.
After the whole blackmailing, I got tougher. I started putting the story about my life into writing, even though I almost lost it mentally, but I used the mockery to produce a film,” Funke added.
