Nigerian music star Iyanya has opened up about his famed relationship with Ghanaian actress and author Yvonne Nelson in a new interview.
Iyanaya who is currently in Ghana to promote his new EP titled “Love and Trust,” featuring collaborations with African music stars such as Kuami Eugene shared snippets of their relationship on Starr FM on Thursday, July 6, 2023.
Despite the ups and downs they experienced, Iyanya had nothing but kind words for his former flame, describing her as a “sweet girl”
“Yvonne Nelson is a sweet girl, I can’t go about sharing her problems with people,” he declared.
Recalling the memories they shared, the ‘Kukere master’ revealed that their connection was so strong that he even got a tattoo of Yvonne’s name on his wrist.
“My soul was in Yvonne, I loved her, that’s why I had a tattoo of her name on my wrist. The tattoo was to show I have a piece of her everywhere I go,” he shared.
Although Chapter 10 of Yvonne Nelson’s memoir, “I am not Yvonne Nelson,” delves into the challenges they faced in their relationship, titled “Iyanya and My Love Life,” Iyanya’s fondness for her remains evident.
A portion of the book read, “We had a decent relationship. breakfast in bed and all the niceties of a dream relationship one could think of. I had the assurance that he was someone I could be with forever. He tattooed my initials, YN, on his wrist, and I thought that was a big deal. If he wasn’t serious about the relationship he wouldn’t do that. In his hit song, “Ur Waist”, he mentioned how he lusted over me”.”One can therefore imagine my shock when I returned to Ghana after one of my visits to Nigeria and someone called me from his house”
However, the shocking revelation came to light when Nelson returned to Ghana after one of her visits to Nigeria when an informant via a phone call reached out to share Iyanya’s secret affair with an actress that shattered her world
“The caller said anytime I left Iyanya’s place, another actress came over to him and sometimes slept over. The person felt strongly that there was something going on between them and thought I should know. That actress turned out to be Tonto Dikeh of Nigeria, one of the female celebrities Iyanya named in his “Ur Waist” song,” she penned.
During the interview, Iyanya expressed regret over the lies he told Yvonne, stating that he wished he could have focused on her instead.
“If I was dating her, I will just focus on her. Back then I used to lie to her. Then, it was my career first. Everything came second.”
Despite their past difficulties, Iyanya revealed that he desired to have a sit-down conversation with Yvonne to address their unresolved emotions.
“I don’t feel good that I have to sit on the radio to talk about this because it is emotional.”
This is quite different from the commentary he’s made in the past about the actress after the book was released.
Iyanya seems to have made a U-turn as he threatened in a series of tweets to share his side of the story after Sarkodie released a diss song as a response to the memoir.