My father rejected my education because of my gender – Eucharia Anunobi

By Ayo Onikoyi

Veteran actress , Eucharia Anunobi has opened up about her difficult relationship with her father, revealing that he strongly opposed her education and career ambitions simply because she was a girl.

Speaking during an appearance on the The Honest Bunch Podcast, the Nollywood star-turned-evangelist recounted how her father believed educating a female child was a waste, insisting that a girl would eventually marry and take her husband’s name without leaving any legacy for her family.

According to Anunobi, her father’s disapproval of her education began as early as secondary school.

“My father was against me going to school. It was a thing of displeasure for him. From secondary school, he made it clear that he was not interested in my education,” she said.

She recalled that her father often questioned the value of educating a girl child.

“As a matter of fact, what is in a girl child? What legacy would it leave except that they are only going to get married. So please, cut them off from me,” she quoted him as saying.

The actress explained that her father’s refusal to support her education pushed her into modelling, a path that eventually helped her fund her studies.

“That was how I began my journey and it encouraged me into modelling. It was modelling that sustained, fuelled and financed my education. Yes, my father was wealthy in his own terms, but he did not want to have anything to do with the girl child,” she said.

Anunobi also disclosed that her father once locked her in her room for six months for refusing to take up an office job he had arranged for her.

“For six months, my father locked me in my room. There is the small white paper they call ‘use me’ paper — he would write an employment letter and push it under my door so I could fill the form and we could submit it,” she said.

However, she insisted on pursuing a different path.

“But I would write back that I don’t want to work in an office. My mum would be crying and they would be giving me food like a criminal for six months in my own father’s house,” she added.

She further revealed that her father did not pay her school fees until she got to university, forcing her to find ways to support herself.

“In his mind, I was a waste. He didn’t pay my fees till university, and after I struggled to make my university education possible, he wanted to lord over me, but I refused. All those acting jobs I did then, I used to sneak out to go and do them,” Anunobi said.

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