Despite Potential Discouragement from my Actions, my Wife Stood by Me Unwaveringly -Mofe-Damijo

Veteran Nigerian actor, Richard Mofe-Damijo, fondly known as RMD, has said that despite potential discouragement from his actions, his wife, Jumobi Adegbesan stood by him unwaveringly.

The actor proudly praised his wife, Jumobi for giving up her fame for their marriage, declared her the best wife in the world.

Mofe-Damijo revealed this during his interview on the ‘Teju Baby Face Show’ on Sunday.

The actor said moving on after his first wife’s death was not easy, noting that he never knew he could overcome the pain.

When asked how he overcame the pain of losing his first wife, RMD described Jumobi as his ultimate source of strength and support, saying she understood her role as his wife.

He described her as the rock of his being.

He said, “That’s the rock of my being. That’s the reason I can stay. I have the best wife in the world because it has to be the reason why I can go out there and flex. Because I know who is behind me.”

Mofe-Damijo stated that despite potential discouragement from his actions, she stood by him unwaveringly.

He added, “I have done some crazy things but she also knows that I am remorseful and a work in progress. As I said, if your wife doesn’t feel that you are also taking responsibility for the partnership, she won’t be the woman you want. I constantly pray that I am the man that she wants. Before we got married, I always said to her that I didn’t think I deserved to marry you and she would say it was okay. I would joke that if you change, I will kill you. She was so good.

“As was a legible young man who just lost his wife and everybody wanted me to remarry. She would come to the house and meet 10 women. Then I would look at her and tell my younger brother to go drop her and I would tell her to go home. She would just turn around and go home. When everybody left, I would tell my brother to call her to come back and she would turn right back. Then I will be like, why are you so dense, why don’t you say something?”

He added that her kindness initially gave him a pause before marrying her.

“I was really afraid to marry her because she was too nice and I kept saying to her, ‘Hope you won’t change when we marry’. Even at the lowest point in my life when I looked at her and said I was so sorry she would say, ‘I have nowhere I’m going. That doesn’t cause me to want to sin more but it built more responsibility for me to slow down,” he remarked.

He added that his relationship with his wife was treated as a partnership from the start, noting that that earned him what he now enjoys.”So, it is a partnership. If you don’t give me anything to feel like I am a part of the union, then if I see you kissing along the corridor, I will feel very bad and not pretend that I didn’t see you. I will say that is what you love to do because that is what defines you.

“The first time I made the biggest money in my life, I told my manager to pay the money into my wife’s account. When she received it, she asked what it was meant for and I told her it was for her,” he stated.

On why he gave her the money, he said, “Because I had to show her that that was the biggest money I made in my life. I could buy a car or go on holiday but I just said this is the person that made it possible. And the typical her was not flattered.

“That used to bother me when we just started. When I travel and come back with two suitcases and one and a half are hers she will just say put it there. Then I will ask, do you like it and she will say yea I like it.

This is not the first time Mofe-Damijo would publicly praise his wife for her contribution to his career progression.

In 2021, he praised Jumobi for giving up her fame for their marriage.

He said, “I can’t believe we are 21 years today! My Abike, my Abk, my Abik, strong and courageous.”

With a career spanning several decades, Richard Mofe-Damijo is still breaking new grounds in the Nigerian movie industry.

After graduating from the university, Mofe-Damijo took part in the soap opera Ripples. However, he gained more popularity as villain Segun Kadiri in rival soap Checkmate. Before his acting career began, he briefly worked as a writer with Concord Newspapers, Metro Magazine, and Quality. In 2005, at the maiden edition of the African Movie Academy Awards; Richard Mofe-Damijo won the award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 12th Africa Movie Academy Awards in 2016.

The writer, producer, lawyer, and former journalist was appointed as the Special Adviser of Culture and Tourism to the then Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan in 2008, and later became the commissioner for Culture and Tourism of Delta State, Nigeria in 2009-2015.

May 08, 2024