My Daughter Helped Me Quit Smoking – Yeni Kuti Confesses

Yeni Kuti, the first daughter of late Afro-beat legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, has revealed in an interview with The Sun that she used to have a smoking addiction and it was her daughter, Rolariwho helped her put an end to it.

According to the singer and dancer, she realized she had to set aside her smoking habit after experiencing chest pains. The thought of not being alive to witness daughter, Rolari, graduate from the university made her abandon her smoking ways.

“Before my daughter went into the university, I used to smoke and suffer chest pains. I was like ‘if I continue smoking I may die before my daughter graduates’. 

“That was the inspiration I needed to stop smoking because for years, I had been telling myself that I would stop smoking on the first day of January, but by January 4 I was still smoking. 

“But this time, I didn’t wait for January 3 or 4. I simply told myself that if I continued smoking, I would die and never see my daughter graduate. And that was just too important for me, so I just stopped. I have stopped smoking for three years. The fear of not being able to educate my child gave me that inspira­tion. I was like, who will educate this girl if I die?” 

She could not stop gushing about her lovely daughter whom she is immensely proud of. She noted however that it is no longer easy to interact with her now unlike before because she is now a married woman living in her husband’s house.

She said, “I miss my daughter but we talk regularly. I can’t call her in her husband’s house the way I used to call her before”

“I am a very happy mother because my daughter is married and settled, and they both love each other”.