Nigerian singer and songwriter Johnny Drille has opened up about his relationship with his wife, Rima Tahini, revealing that their love story began during his time at Mavin Records.
Drille made the revelation during an interview on The Right Hand podcast, where he reflected on the decision to keep their relationship away from public scrutiny for several years before eventually announcing it.
According to the singer, he and Tahini began dating sometime in November or December 2018. Despite being together for years, the couple successfully kept their romance private until July 2023, when they publicly disclosed their relationship.
Drille further revealed that they had already gotten married before making their relationship known to the public. This meant they had spent roughly five years keeping their romance and subsequent marriage away from public attention.
Reflecting on the effort required to maintain such a high level of privacy, the singer said, “I think about it now, and I don’t realise how much work we had to put into it for keeping it on the record for so long.”
He explained that the relationship remained largely unknown to the public until 2023, saying, “We started dating in November-December of 2018 and I don’t think the rest of the world knew. They got to know in July 2023, and that’s about five years because we had gotten married, which is about a year and seven months-ish after we announced it.”
The singer acknowledged that keeping the relationship secret was not an easy task, particularly given his public profile and career in the entertainment industry. However, he expressed gratitude for meeting his wife during his time at Mavin Records.
“It wasn’t easy keeping it, but I’m grateful I met my wife at Mavin’s,” he said.
Drille’s revelation offers a glimpse into how the couple managed to maintain a private relationship despite the singer’s growing visibility in the Nigerian music industry. Their decision to keep their romance away from the spotlight for several years also allowed them to build their relationship largely away from public attention before eventually sharing their story with fans.