Eniola Ajao, a popular Yoruba actress and filmmaker, recently opened up about the devastating impact of fake news on her mental health.
She revealed that relentless false information spread on social media once drove her to the brink, leaving her so distressed that she nearly considered self-harm.
Ajao shared this experience to raise awareness about the harmful effects of misinformation and its toll on mental well-being.
The actress claimed that things got so awful that she nearly tried to end her life.
The actress made this known while sharing her experience during her recent interview with Nollywood on Radio.
Narrating her experience with fake news, Ajao said she faced severe emotional distress that also led to her withdrawal from social activities. In Eniola Ajao’s words:
I almost poisoned myself because of news about me on social media that was far from true. It was the first time in my life to have faced something so painful that I couldn’t eat for seven days. I didn’t go anywhere. People around me can testify to it.
“My sisters were calling, telling me, ‘You have to do this for yourself. You don’t have to poison yourself.’ My son was reaching out to everyone that I was struggling with the online lies.”
Meanwhile in May, Nigerian television presenter and filmmaker Stephanie Coker Aderinokun has opened up on being suicidal after her second IVF failed amid her struggle with Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).
In an interview with media personality Chude Jideonwo, Coker opened up about the life-threatening nature of her PCOS diagnosis.
She spoke about how she conceived her first child, Ariella, via IVF and her attempt to conceive a second child via that same route.
According to her, she spent over $40,000 and had traveled to Los Angeles for an IVF operation last year, which unfortunately failed. She further disclosed that after the failed IVF she called her friend stating that she felt the baby rejected her.
Coker told Jideonwo that she felt very rejected after the failed IVF and even suicidal, confessing that she once contemplated stepping in front of a moving car.