Divorce Made Me Depressed, Turned Me Into An African Bad Girl – Tiwa Savage

Nigerian music superstar Tiwa Savage has candidly shared the emotional turmoil she endured during and after her 2018 divorce from ex-husband Tunji ‘TeeBillz’ Balogun.

Speaking on The Receipts Podcast, the 44-year-old disclosed that she faced, including postpartum depression, public backlash, and criticism from prominent figures.

Tiwa revealed that the split, initiated by her ex-husband, was made public in a shocking online announcement, leaving her to bear the brunt of societal judgment.

Despite doing “everything right”—completing university, getting married, and having a child within wedlock—Tiwa said she went from being “Nigeria’s sweetheart” to facing hate from blogs and the public.

She said,

“When I came out, I was Nigeria’s sweetheart when I started and I could do no wrong in Nigerian’s eyes. I did everything by the book. I went to university and I wasn’t a baby mama. I got married then I had a baby so I did everything in the right order and everybody loved me and then everything happened.

“Then I started getting hate from blogs and I started getting hate from certain people. The way our situation happened, he announced it online. I didn’t break up with him but I was the one being attacked.

“At the time, my baby was just a few months old and I was dealing with postpartum and my body wasn’t the same and I was depressed. Everyone then went to him and only a few people came to see me.

“After I interviewed to tell my side of the story, it got worse. People were like ‘How dare you go and talk’ ‘You’re a woman and you’re supposed to build the house, it’s your fault’.

“I remember famous people calling me to ask how I could tell my side of the story cuz I’d never win. Ever since then, I was like I won’t ever talk about the situation because it was very heartbreaking how the public took it and blamed me.”

“It was an eye-opener for me and it made me depressed for so long. It got me angry then I became the ‘African Bad Girl.”

“I thought to myself that after doing everything right I was still attacked. Then I started getting tattoos and wearing short skirts and bikini. I was just wild.”