Nigerian singer Yemi Alade has shared how she once slipped into depression after realizing she had been denying her actual age for years.
Gatekeepers News reports that speaking on the WithChude podcast, the singer revealed that at one point in her life, she spent three years repeatedly claiming to be 22, only to discover later she was, in fact, 25.
According to the 36-year-old artist, her overwhelming dedication to her career led to her losing touch with reality and disconnecting from her personal life.
She said, “There was a time someone asked me my age and I realized for like three years, I kept saying I was 22.”
“When I realized that I was 25, I took out my phone and did the mathematics from whatever year that was from 1989. I was depressed for a few days.”
“My mind was rejecting the reality. My mind was also not taking into account that years will pass by. I was so invested and in my own world, I had secluded myself and focused only on the music.”
Alade added that she rarely saw her family during that period, noting that she only visited her mother once or twice a year.
She said, “Every now and then, I would travel to see my mum, maybe twice a year or something, but it was mental that for three years I didn’t know my right age because I was lost in the sauce.”
The singer further shared that noticing her first grey hair brought back a similar wave of emotion.
She said, “When that dawned on me — what of when I saw my first grey hair? It was the same feeling that time had passed.”
