“How I was forced into marriage by my parents at 19” – Patience Ozokwor opens up
By Rita Chioma
Veteran Nollywood actress turned evangelist, Patience Ozokwor, has opened up on her marriage to her late husband.
The 59-year-old in an interview with RTV, a Ghanaian television, revealed that she was forced into marriage by her parents at 19, no choice was given to her as she was not brought up to disobey her parents’ orders, she said.
“It was not my decision. And if it’s not my decision then I was forced into it. I did not see any reason my parents were forcing me as I was still young. And even at that age I had so many suitors and they just wanted me to get married. You know when you come from a polygamous family and your mother is struggling for her own daughters to get married and this other one is also struggling for her own daughters to get married and when this one came around and I said no I should make a choice. but I was not allowed to make that choice. They didn’t give me that choice and at the end, I had to obey my parents. I was not brought up to disobey them at all.”
When asked if she enjoyed the marriage, she replied saying.
“Sincerely speaking as a Christian I did not.” Adding that her late husband was once married to girl who was arranged for him but the marriage didn’t work out. “The girl was sent to London to meet him but she got there and found out she didn’t like him so she decided to move on with her life. So they didn’t live together as husband and wife.
Speaking further on her marriage, she revealed that it wasn’t easy at all for her as a young girl;
“The marriage was not easy at all for me as a young girl, it was not easy but when you have two children and it is also not in the culture of my parents for you to jump from one man to another. I lost it sometimes and I had to make do with the children God gave me.”
