I am Not Yvonne Nelson

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If, like me, you were gagging after seeing“Genevieve Nnaji and the Rest” as the title of the book’s 14th chapter, then I’m sorry to disappoint you. It’s not like I was expecting something scandalous about my unproblematic queen, but not everyone in this book has been mentioned for good, so there were some mild heart palpitations. The book, which details her professional and personal journey, has become a hot topic online, so we decided to get into some of the most interesting revelations it contains. Source: I Am Not Yvonne Nelson Confirmation of her relationship with Sarkodie and the baby they never had Source: MyNewsGH

It is however, not unnoticed how her Father Issues —the feeling of resentments towards her father 'Mr Nelson' —has kept drawing her to emotionally unavailable men (I wonder what Freud would say about you now). Motivated by her own experiences of growing up without a father, Nelson made the heartbreaking decision to abort the baby. She couldn’t fathom subjecting another innocent life to the pain of rejection, just as she had endured. But there comes a time one finds truer meaning to life, a calling and a cause more fulfilling than the real and imaginary applauses in the market square of stardom. There comes a time one has to be real with oneself. There comes a time when one feels compelled to let the world into one’s life and show them the other side, the real side. This, I feel, is my time. This book is not an ordinary autobiography. It is a search for an answer to a question that has nagged the author since her childhood. It chronicles a journey that starts unassumingly but auspiciously in Dansoman, gets gloomy and bleak after Aggrey Memorial AME Zion Secondary School in Cape Coast, and sets the stage for the author’s struggles; a struggle against failure and the desertion that comes with it, a struggle which later becomes the fight against the pitfalls of fame and success.

I grew up with a void in my life, but it really didn’t mean much to me until that fateful afternoon when my Primary Five class teacher, Mr. B.B. Grant, summoned me to his desk, in front of the classroom. As I approached his desk, another boy in my class also scampered toward us. The teacher had called him too. I did not have the faintest hint about why the two of us were Mr. Grant’s subjects of interest and summons, but it would not take forever to find out. I am writing because I have a story to tell. I am here to be real. I am here to open up, especially to a generation of young women that needs the truth to make decisions. I am here to find the most important answer to the most nagging question about my life. Pulling her own Caroline from Real Housewives of Lagos card, Yvonne goes into alleged cases of actresses and actors being pimped out to Nigeria’s financial and political elites. While she doesn’t mention names, she goes on about her experience and how she avoided following the same pattern during her time in Nollywood.

It’s like a lot of things are foreshadowed but I wanna blame social media more for ruining the book for me before I could even buy it and read it. Since its release, the book has dominated social media trends, sparking controversies about her alleged affair with a top Ghanaian rapper. I have covered quite a distance, but what I envisage before me is more ambitious than what is behind me. So, I am not writing this because I think I have peaked. It is said that a person’s speed in the battle of life is determined by the speed of his or her pursuer. That which is determining the speed of my run started its vicious and supersonic pursuit before I was born. I have been running in silence, apart from a few hints I have dropped here and there in some major media interviews. Yvonne details the regret and pain that followed this revelation and how Mr Nelson’s death further compounded it. This confusion about her paternity informed the book’s title, I Am Not Yvonne Nelson, after finding out that the man whose name she’s carried over the years wasn’t her real dad. I don't think Yvonne will ever know who her father is. Her mother will never tell her. The woman has perfected the act of selfishness and victimhood and this book Yvonne wrote has opened her mother up for judgement.READ ALSO: When Was The Last Time You Sent 1Gh For Your Child? – Archipalago’s Baby Mama Calls Him Out For Being An Irresponsible Stingy Man While a lot of the drama trailing Yvonne Nelson’s memoir has focused on her romantic relationships, the book’s main focus and inspiration behind its title comes from her relationship with her parents. In the 14th chapter titled “Genevieve Nnaji and the rest”, Yvonne Nelson refers to the veteran actress as “my unproblematic queen”. She talks about her time working with Genevieve Nnaji on the set of a movie titled “To Love and to Cherish” and describes how great it was working with the screen goddess. Correcting other people’s accounts of me is, however, not the reason I am telling my own story at this stage. I am not here to seek sympathy or validation. I am not here to challenge anyone’s version or correct anyone’s narrative.

In essence, this book recounts an endless struggle by the author to discover herself and her place in the world. She faces a fair dose of ups and downs. As with all human stories, there are surprises and dramatic ironies that are known, perhaps, only to Providence. For instance, Aggrey Memorial, which she despises so much turns out to be the right place that prepares her for the success that would define her life.In the eighth chapter of her memoir, launched to much anticipation on June 18, 2023, Nelson recounts her desperate attempts to terminate the pregnancy. She resorted to ingesting concoctions recommended by a colleague, but to her dismay, they proved ineffective, as a subsequent test confirmed she was still pregnant. Assignments from teachers, or what we often called “homework”, were supposed to be done at home. If we had a favourite programme on television or an important outing and didn’t want the assignment to interfere with our programme, we squeezed some time and did it in school so our day and night would be cleared for our personal stuff. The teacher’s assignment on whether Eugene and I were related was not a conventional assignment, and I did not have anything special to attend to at home, but I could not resist the urge to start it right from school. Uncharacteristic of an autobiography, the author comes to her audience stark naked. The book opens the door widely into the life of the author and exposes the good, the bad and the ugly sides, not only of her life, but also of the make-believe world of celebrities.” When a mother doesn’t want to indulge the paternity of her child, it might mean a lot. I think she might not know who the father reasons being - was experiencing her own body. Could also be rape or could be sexual favors gone wrong. This is Ghana we are talking about and misogyny is a 3 course meal.

It was in her absence that he got involved with me, and things got dangerously complicated. Whatever it was, his stance was clear. And I was left to evaluate my own options. The first thing that hit me when he said no to keeping the pregnancy was my own life. I had grown up without a father in my life. I had often been reminded of how I had been born by mistake. I was still wondering if the man whose name I bore was my father. How was I going to bring another human being into this world to live like me, someone whose father would reject him or her as Mr. Nelson had rejected me? If there was a way to spare someone else the trauma I was contending with, why would I reject that option, especially when I was not psychologically and emotionally prepared to be a mother?" she stated.The book has been praised for its honesty and its insight into the Ghanaian celebrity world. It has also been criticized for its graphic details of Nelson’s private life. From paternity claims to her relationships with Iyanya, Sarkodie, Genevieve Nnaji, John Dumelo and other hot topics, ‘I Am Not Yvonne Nelson’ sure has the feel of a thriller movie that will keep celebrity gist lovers on the edge of their seats. This popular book hitting the shelves of many readers —even if most of them are intrigued by the excerpt on the moral negligence of a popular Ghanaian artist— across the country is yet another restoration in the budding reading culture among Ghanaians. Mr Nelson, despite being very accepting of all his outside kids, never accepted Yvonne. Mr Adjetey never had an idea Yvonne existed. Yvonne also said her mother always said she wished she had aborted Yvonne and other unsavoury things towards her.