Omawumi opened up to Thisday entertainment contributor, Seun Apara, on the reasons why she does not like discussing the paternity of her daughter. She said:
I never hid my child’s paternity but I felt that since I’m not married, I don’t need to come out and say this is the father of my child. It is always ideal for someone who wants to marry you to be the one to identify himself.
Another thing is that he might not want to identify himself because he is not an artiste. He might not want that part of my life. He might just love me and my child. So I like to respect people’s privacy. I also strongly feel that it is my job as a musician to entertain you and if you feel like my personal life is your business, it doesn’t mean I feel the same way.
Initially when I got pregnant, I didn’t feel the need to come out and start telling people that this is the father of my child. I didn’t feel I owed it to anyone.
My family and my close friends know who the father of my childis because we’re in a relationship. We have a very healthy relationship and our families are intertwined. I don’t think I need to start telling people all this.
I felt so bad about the stories people are writing about my child’s paternity because normally, controversies don’t get to me and my daughter don’t have to be part of this. So when people start putting that kind of stuffs in print and my daughter stumbles upon it when she is oldenough to read, it will hurt her.
Considering the kind of upbringing I had, I’m not that morally bankrupt that I will now fraternize with a married man that is like a father figure to me.
You want to reveal his identity?
I don’t feel that will be necessary.I just want to use this opportunity to tell people that I will try as much as possible to bea normal artiste and I want to encourage people to try and enjoy my music. It’s not easy but they should just try not to be concerned about my private life.
They should know that I’m a human being and they should tryto understand that I tried to be aperson that people can look up to.
