- Add new comment
- 4105 views
NTV investigative journalist Dennis Okari has for the first time opened up on what he went through after his ugly divorce with former wife, Betty Kyallo.
Okari separated with the KTN news anchor in October 2015, just six months after their much-publicized wedding.
In an interview with Truth FM on Thursday, the reporter said he suffered depression and contemplated suicide on two separate occasions as a result of the mocking he received after the divorce.
"I know people don't know this, but I have tried to take my life twice. The first time I wanted to crash my car on a huge rock on my way from work. Miraculously, as I drove from work on the material night, I just could not trace the boulder, it had always been there, but I couldn't trace it," the journalist told Truth FM in candid interview.
"The second time, I had planned to take an overdose of piriton tablets, about 12 of them, and sleep never to wake up. But as I came from work late in the night, I couldn't figure where to get a chemist that late in the night. And somehow it escaped my mind that I could easily google it out. Likewise, I aborted the suicide mission," he recalled.
The journalist said he overcame depression after a spiritual encounter that has since transformed his life. He says he now spends most of his time mentoring Christians.
Asked for a comment on claims by Betty that he was to blame for the broken marriage, Okari noted he did not wish to "defend himself or tarnish someone's name in public".
"Maybe I will speak about it in future when God allows me," he said.
In a past interview, Betty said their divorce was fuelled by Okari's move to join a religious group that engaged in "practices she could not fathom".
Comments
Why did I have a feeling that religion had something to do with it? Well Betty confirm it..I need not say more.
Relationship matters are never easy on the heart when things go south.The key is to keep things in perspective. I dare say that the marriage institution as we know it will not survive the next few decades. Technology, education, medicine etc keeps changing and I fail to see why the insistence on keeping this institution the same. The idea of having two or more people legally chained to each other through many years with dire consequences for breaking it is quite archaic. I am in Kenya quite often and if we can shine a light on what married people do when presumably no one is looking, it would shock even the most liberal people. People don't divorce, they like to keep appearances of content marriages. This is worsened by societal pressure to marry and procreate. This institution is simply not for everyone. I refuse to be impressed by the celebration of lengthy marriages but rather I celebrate quality connections however long.
@ Nani, I agree with you.As you can see even in religions, there have been changes that were not there 50 years ago. For example women were not allowed to sit with men, whether it has abiblical origil, Iam not sure,but it does not happen anymore.Guitars were not allowed in churches. Today we have live bands. The only reason allowed for divorce is infidelity. Today, there are myriads of reason,hey you dont even have to have a reason actually...
The other day, In TZ,one woman representative asked her husband to marry another wife since she is always away for business.
Most people frown upon polygamy because of religious influence.And ofcourse some immitating the west.But for those who are limited by resources, Iwould still count them as polygamous.Give this background, one can see why one wife is alien to africans.
My religion SCIENCE tells us that both men and women were not created to be monogamous.Hence,the rampant infidelity.Some have tried swapping spouses to combart this desired to stray,some have 3 some,some have tried living in communal places.This points out that people are trying to get away from this one man one woman constraint.
All I can say is that whatever your flavor of the day, please operate within the law.Eventually we shall be guided by laws,some natural,some manmade.And not by mores,and cultural traditions., I also encourage people to be creative,and open minded.Who knows, may be in our openness in creativity we may come up with an institution that is better than we have.Amen.
Mheshimiwa Dr. james Okaro:
Haikuwa mila yetu mtu kujitoa uhai wake! Mambo haya yametokana na kuiga mila ya watu wengine ambayo haifai kamwe kuwa sehemu ya mila yetu!
6 months of marriage?I would chance to say that they may have had second thoughts,but decided to go on since they had come Thus far and spend a fortune...I encourage a trial marriage of one year.If you can tolerate each other that long there is hope you could graduate if you enroll in this institution.