Olayode Juliana, popularly known as ‘Toyo Baby’ in Funke Akindele-Bello’s popular Television comic series, Jenifa’s Diaries has finally released her book titled “REBIRTH”.
According to her, “Writing this book brought me a mix of emotions. I cried hard, laughed hard, smiled, giggled…and had to forgive some people over and again. I have been working on this book for a couple of months and I am glad it is finally available to you! I am sure it would be your favorite book after your first read.”
The actress in the 23 chapter book revealed the good, the bad and ugly things she went through as a teenager, and also revealed that Jenifa’s Diary gave her fame and not money. Here are excerpts from the book below…
She lost her virginity at 17 to her married music teacher
“The day finally came. He wanted to move the date because he was expecting some money that he wanted to use to pay for a good hotel, but moving it would mean my mum back from church. So, he settled for a cheap hotel. I still remember the smell of cigarette that filled the room. I hated the smell of alcohol and cigarette; I still do. We had to wait at the reception for the room to be cleaned and aired.
So, we went back into the room, and it happened. It was a painful experience for me.
I cried at different points and he kept apologising, begging me to keep my voice down lest they think he was raping me. He told me to relax and bear the pain. In his words, “do not be a weak woman”. That got at me because I hated feeling or being treated as weak.I asked for a break. He tutored me some more and tried again until he finally got through. It was not anything like he had told me it would be. I saw no clouds, I made no sounds, I felt nothing special. It was painful all the way, but it was obvious he was
satisfied.When he was done, I checked the bed for blood. I screamed! There was no blood! He told me that not all virgins saw blood. I was so confused, but chose to believe him anyway. Soon after, he slept, and I was there crying. Why didn’t I see blood? Even if not
all virgins see blood, why should I be on that list? How would I tell the story of losing my virginity without blood? Who would believe me that I was actually a virgin?”
Juliana Olayode’s mother is an illiterate! (She can NOT read)
“In my letter to my mum, I was able to tell her how terrified I had been living in my step-dad’s house. I thanked her for telling me the details of what happened to her after dad asked her to leave. I told her I was proud of her
and that I would make her proud.I gave it to her and she kept it in her bag. Later on, I asked her if she had read it and she reminded me she could not read. I wondered how I forgot that. My dad was the one who could read, not my mum.
So, your guess is as good as mine. I had to read it to her! I was so shy. I read it to her and had to explain some parts in Yoruba. Long before I was done, she was already crying.I said “I love you” to my mum and it sounded so strange to my ears. I forced the words out of my mouth and then hugged her. My mum laughed and said I was behaving like ‘Oyinbo’, like an American.”
Her pastor abused her sexually!
“I got to church and it was just the pastor there. I assumed he was the one who picked his children from school that day as they were still in their school uniforms and they were with him in church. He told me to come into his office and asked his children to go into the car.
In his office, he asked me if I read the scriptures he gave me and if I observed my prayer time. I told him I did. So he then claimed God told him I needed a spiritual bath and that I had to take my clothes off. He claimed his office had been supernaturally made a spiritual bathroom. He wanted to wash away the dirty water that was poured on me in
my dream.As he spoke those words, I began to cry. Was my case that critical? Why would God want me to have a bath in the pastor’s office? Couldn’t God wash me without me taking off my clothes? Why all these complications?
The pastor told me to stop crying and that I should follow God’s instructions through him.He said he would excuse me so God could do the sanctification. He left his office. I shut the door, made sure the windows were locked and put the curtains down. I was naked in his office. He had told me how to pray and I prayed. I cried as I did.
I saw the door handle moving so I quickly got up, and got dressed. I opened the door and he came in with oil. He claimed again that God asked him to anoint my body from head to toe. So, the anointing session started. He anointed my head, my eyes, and was moving down. When he got to my chest, he did the sign of the cross and wanted to
proceed to touch me. I stopped him and told him to put the oil in my hand. I would anoint myself.He told me to lie down, that he wanted to anoint me down there. It was at the point when he wanted to anoint me, I remembered I had forgotten to wear my pant when I hurriedly dressed up. At that time, I also remembered the dirty things Mr. F used to talk about. It was then my eyes were opened and I knew what this man was trying to do to me.
I got upset, took my bag and left immediately.”
How her Meeting with Mercy Aigbe changed her life
“Someday last year, I met Mercy Aigbe through one of my friends that works with her, Tosin Odusanya. She was very pleasant and kind. She answered many of my questions and gave me some serious words of advice. I could tell she was talking from experience.
At that time, I had just been written out of the Jenifa’s Diary TV series. I told her about my desire to change my social media account name from Toyo Baby to another name I wanted to push. I explained my fears and struggles.
After listening to me, she encouraged me on my stand as a Christian, asked me to stay out of scandals and told me to maintain good relationships in the industry.In response to my change of name, she told me sternly, “Do not confuse your fans. You worked hard for that name. You gave life to the Toyo Baby character. Ride on it!”
It was after my conversation with her, that I got more comfortable with people calling me Toyo Baby everywhere and I watched God open doors for me. That meeting with Mercy Aigbe was a great blessing to me.”
She is only 22 years old!
“I finished writing the first draft of this book some days to my birthday this year. I clocked twenty-two (22) on Wednesday, the 7 of June, 2017. So, you can easily deduce that I was born Wednesday, the 7 of June, 1995. Now, I would assume this is the most.”
She was born in a CHURCH!
“The last time she called me Aduragbemi was when she told me how I was born. She was in labour for three days! She kept seeing a black cat and every time she saw it, she lost her strength. The strange thing was she was the only one seeing the cat.
The midwives did not see it. They were beginning to think she had a problem. On the third day, she asked to be taken to church. The head of the prayer team prayed over a cup of water and gave her to drink. At that moment, my mum’s strength was renewed and she stopped seeing the cat.
That’s how I came into this beautiful world at C.A.C. (Christ Apostolic Church), Oke-Iyanu, Ogba, Lagos. That was the reason behind my name, Aduragbemi.”
She started Menstruating on the 5th of April, 2010
“On the 5 of April, 2010, I got home, took off my uniform and saw a blood stain. At this time, I was in Senior Secondary School, at Babs Fafunwa Millenium, Ojodu, Lagos. I did not remember having any injury and mum was not home.
When I discovered where the blood was coming from, I started crying. How would I explain this to my mum? I kept cleaning, but it kept flowing. I hurried to Toyosi Oyesile’s place. She asked what was wrong and I explained to her, perplexed at bleeding non stop, without an injury. She laughed at me; she laughed so hard, she nearly choked on
her laughter. I was irritated at her insensitivity. I wanted to walk out when she pulled me back, locked the door and said, “Congratulations. You’re now a woman”. She hugged me very tight.”
Her role in Jenifa’s diary gave her fame NOT Money!
“The plans my mum and I had were exaggerated. I was paid for the series, but the money I received could not do all my mum and I had fantasized about. In retrospect, I laugh at the things my mum had planned to do with the pay; we had big dreams.
I honestly did not know how big my role in Jenifa’s Diary would be when I got the role. I thought I would be done after the first season. I was surprised when I was called back season after season. I got so busy. Jenifa’s Diary practically became my life; I was almost always on set.
Even though I was already acting in the Jenifa’s Diary TV series, whenever I got a call for ushering jobs, I took them. I needed the extra pay. I did decent ushering jobs. I had values I could not compromise. No club, bar or night ushering jobs. No jobs with indecent outfits. I did the regular wedding, and concert jobs. The pay for decent ushering
jobs was as low as Five thousand Naira per job but for me it was worth it.My mum was concerned for me, wondering why I would be on TV and still be going for such cheap jobs. I told her I had to do so. I could not sit at home when not on set doing nothing and I definitely was not going to sleep around. Dee did not like the idea either, but he understood my position.
There were times I went for ushering jobs and people recognised me. I smiled at them. At times, fellow ushers jeered at me, wondering what Toyo Baby was doing serving as an usher with them. I always found a way of laughing my way out of the teasing.
I was living with the Adiguns at this time. TiTiMi always gave us monthly stipends. Even if I asked for more before the next was due, I was sure they would give me, but I wanted to make more money myself. But eventually, the ushering job started getting very embarrassing. There was a day I went all the way to Shagamu for an ushering job and after a long day, working, we were paid One thousand Naira. The Madame said she had not been paid and asked us to write
down our account details. Except she plans to pay tomorrow, I got no alert.At that point, I cried to God. I felt cheated. It was getting too humiliating. I cried to God and He made me know I should stop the ushering jobs. It was only God that could stop me in spite of the embarrassment. I was asking Him to make sure the woman paid me, but He said I should stop ushering. I was initially upset with God, but before I left the
place of prayer, He had comforted me.
She could NOT go to school even after gaining admission cos of poverty!
“I graduated from Babs Fafunwa Millenium Senior Grammar School, Ojodu-Berger, Lagos. I was the Head Girl in my final year at school, loved by the principal, Mrs. Adebayo, other teachers and students.
My Valedictory Ceremony in school was a very emotional one. I was missing everyone and everything already, coupled with the fact that I was afraid of facing life outside the four walls of my school.Before I graduated, I took the JAMB exam and I passed. I was already an undergraduate at the University of Ibadan as I had been given admission to study the course I applied for, Mass Communication. Mrs. Adebayo was all smiles when I made the information public. She announced it to the school with so much pride. People applauded and my teachers congratulated me.
Little did I know I was going to lose the admission. My mum tried so hard to raise my acceptance fee, tuition and other necessary payments, but she did not make headway.
I told her not to worry; I assured her our finances would be better the next year. She still tried to raise it, but we missed the deadline. She was bitter for days and wondered why they would not extend the deadline.That was how I missed my admission to the University of Ibadan. My principal and my English teacher, Mrs. Obabolujo called me to follow up. When I disclosed the bad news, they were upset with me and told me I should have kept them abreast with how things were going.”
Credit: KemiFilani’sBlog
Connect With iTunesNG
Leave a Reply