"I felt vulnerable opening up"

Betty Irabor: I didn't plan to open up.

I had seen a tweet and I didn't ask for permission to be invited. There are some things that if you want to support, you just show up so you don't put pressure on people. I remembered Chude announcing that Aunty Betty is coming.

Pressure. Pressure.

I just wore my kaftan without makeup; I didn't plan to share. I just felt I should support you. I felt I should go and just listen.

While I was there, I was thinking that “Chude has everything. He is successful, he is so put together. He is a strong Nigerian man and all that.” When you started talking about your own encounter, your own experience, I told myself to also go out there and share a bit.

The moment I got there, it was either I opened up completely or not. I was in that place where I didn't care anymore of this facade - this facade of celebrity life, the façade of having it all well put together.

I just felt [the need] to go there and say my story. Opening up, I felt vulnerable - it was the daily vulnerable. I felt very vulnerable. I felt very naked, but then I felt a huge weight had been lifted off of me.

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Listen to the full conversation here, or watch the video version here.