Veteran Yoruba actor Yinka Quadri has opened up about dating fellow actresses during his long marriage, saying his wife knew about the relationships and still welcomed the women into their home.
The 67-year-old made the comments in a clip from an African A-List interview, but he declined naming any of the actresses involved. Quadri said the situation reached a point where some of the women he was seeing became friendly with his wife, Alhaja Sadiat Adenike Quadri, and even gossiped to her about him.
“It got to a stage, I won’t mention the ladies name in the industry. They would become friends with my wife and start giving gossip to my wife that I am dating so so so in the industry,” he said.
Jealousy sometimes complicated things.
“And there were some of them that we were dating who went home out of jealousy. Meanwhile, my wife would say she was aware already and she doesn’t fight them cause of that,” he added.
Late-night shoots made the arrangement even more unusual. Actresses he was dating would occasionally stay over after production wrapped.
“Sometimes when production ends late, they would sleep in my house. And that my wife is aware I am dating them, she would still feed them and everything,” Quadri said.
Quadri and Sadiat met in 1985 and married in 1989. Their marriage has lasted more than three decades and produced children, including Muyiwa, Yewande, Olajuwon and Folarin. In earlier interviews he has described her as the only woman in his house and spoken of choosing to stay with one wife despite his faith permitting more.
The clip has drawn sharp reactions online. Some viewers called the remarks boastful; others questioned the domestic arrangement he described. The interview adds a new and public layer to a marriage that has long been presented as steady in the Yoruba film industry.