Actress and comedienne Helen Paul has recounted her experience growing up as a child conceived by rape.
Helen talked about her childhood at the Excellence in Leadership Conference organised by Daystar Christian Centre, where she was one of the guest speakers.
Helen reposted the video on her Instagram story on Friday.
The 45-year-old said she grew up being called a bastard by those around her including family members because she was born out of rape.
“You must have heard before where I shared on a stage saying I was born out of rape and I grew up with my great grandmother where everybody in the compound in the area would call me bastard so I grew up hearing you are a bastard. I grew up seeing my aunties come to give grandma money for feeding and they will tell mama we are not saying you should use this money to take care of one bastard child we are saying we should use it to take care of yourself and mama would say okay.
“Once they leave mama would turn to me and mama would speak in pidgin, ‘you don hear wetin your aunty dem dey talk? Na like so this world be ooo! Na people wey suppose be your mama blood be that oo! Dem turn tell you who you be, if you like grow up forget yourself, person wey no do well nobody dey celebrate am’.
“But I realised that every time I offended mama, mama would not want to touch me because they warned mama not to beat me. Imagine a child that the mother gave birth to and the mother was feeling ashamed, so the shame my mother didn’t know where to run to,” she said.
Helen added that when it was time to be enrolled in school, her family members didn’t want her bearing her name but an elderly man offered his and that was how the name Paul was given to her as her surname.
Helen first disclosed that her mother conceived her after she was raped in 2019 when she dedicated her PhD degree to the woman.
“I HELEN PAUL dedicate this to my mum, you gave birth to me out of rape, they told you I wouldn’t amount to anything.
I was conceived by rape – Helen Paul
My ex-boyfriend raped me everyday – Juliet Ibrahim
“I grew up hearing from family members; being called a “Bastard” and each time I asked you, you said (Olorun lon wo omo werey, Olorun ma wo e meaning God watches of the child of a mad person, he’d watch over you)
“Mummy I want to know I love you, I might not buy you Benz now because I don’t have a Pant yet but this certificate will amount to something great,” she wrote in parts.
