Singer Savage says she suffered from depression and wanted to take her life.
Nigerian music diva Tiwa Savage recently sat with Ebuka Obi-Uchendu on the Black Box Interview and she opened up on her early years, life as a young black girl in the UK, moving to the US and some thoughts on the recent #EndSARS protests.
At some point in the interview, Tiwa revealed that she tried committing suicide on two occasions due to the racism and bullying she was subjected to as a black teenager living in London.
The award-winning singer told Ebuka that she was only 10 years old when she moved to the UK with her mother. And on arriving in London, she was targeted and mocked in school by white kids for her strong Nigerian accent.
In her words: “When I got to school, it was horrible and I had an accent. My first day I clearly cannot forget. I got to school late and my teacher couldn’t pronounce my name. She then asked why I was late to school and I said ‘sorry ma there was go slow.’ Everyone started laughing. I was teased so badly.
“They use to call me ‘African girl’ ‘Fufu’, ‘We heard your food smells badly’ it was so bad that I literally tried to kill myself two times. I was depressed and bullied. They would flush my hair down during lunch break. At some point, I use to have a police escort me to the bus. I wanted to bleach and started growing my hair. It was really terrible.”
The music star also talked about her family, especially her mum who she described as a very typical African parent living in London.
Watch the interview below:
Photo Credit: Instagram
