My tribal marks drove the father of my child away — Nigerian model Adetutu

Model, Adetutu who caused an uproar on social media after she got Rihanna’s attention after the aid of some social media users.

Speaking with Saturday Beats, she opened up about her tribal marks.

According to her, she was bullied due to the marks and it’s discouraged her from going for university education.

She said,

“I started modelling last year after I came out from my shell or hiding due to my tribal marks. The bullying started in my primary and secondary school days. Due to this, I learnt a skill instead of going to university.

“I was supposed to study law but I decided not to take the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination at all because I was scared of being bullied in the university. I believed that if I attended university, I might end up killing myself.

“Later, I had to ask my parents why they gave me these tribal marks and they told me it was because of our culture and to showcase my beauty.

“I didn’t feature in any of my primary school pictures because of my tribal marks and even though I had friends, I was always like a fifth wheel in the group. An embarrassing day for me was when a client told me to always conceal my tribal marks anytime I came to work with her. She eventually told me that she couldn’t work with me.”

She further disclosed that her tribal marks has made some strangers tell her that she was ugly.

“Sometimes when I walk on the road, people would drag me, only to tell me I am ugly but I always ignore them because some people defend me,”

she said.

The Nigerian model also revealed that her baby daddy left her because of her tribal marks. She said;

“One of the reasons the father of my child absconded was because of my tribal marks. He could not be with me in public and he only made us meet at night; we dated for some months in 2008 and I got pregnant in 2009. I bore a girl for him and she will be nine years old this year.

“I felt I was the ugliest girl in the world. I got fed up with relationships because men didn’t always want to go out with me during the day; they would prefer to be with me at night. There was a guy I dated for two years and that was the condition of the relationship, so I had to endure.

“My mum died when I was four years old, so I grew up with a single dad. When I got pregnant, I had to run away from home to a foundation that accommodated me.”

In reaction, some social media users questioned how her baby daddy ‘did it’ with her.