POLYCARP’S WIFE LADY MANDY SPEAKS ABOUT BREAK UP WITH EX-BOYFRIEND, ABUSIVE FATHER & BATTLING DEPRESSION

Polycarp Otieno’s wife Amandine Otieno aka  Lady Mandy, has laid bare her battle with depression after her ex-boyfriend, whom she loved  dumped her.

Speaking on Engage Talk, Lady Mandy took a trip down memory lane when she was 17 and narrated how her 19-year-old boyfriend broke up with her after five years in a relationship leaving her grappling with grief. According to her, she had hoped that he was her lifetime partner since they had known each other well and she was really in love.

She admitted that even though they had experienced difficulties in their relationship before the actual breakup, she had opted to persevere since she believed their bond was eternal.

“We were in love, and it was going on well. Five years down the line, I thought that love was meant to be, and there was no going back. But in the fifth year, he told me, ‘this is a lot. I am done, and I don’t want to be part of this.’ To be honest, it was over before this moment, but because I was so in love with the idea of being in a forever relationship, I did not want to see it. It crushed me big time and sent me into various emotions and pain. Pain that was so physically hard. I thought that it was going to kill me.”

The Burundian fashion stylist also revealed the struggles she went through growing up in a household with an abusive father and recalled a tragic experience that occurred on one of the special days of her life when she was turning 8, and she was receiving her first holy communion.

She noted that her parents had separated, owing to their marital conflict, and on that day, they had organised a special event to mark her birthday, her father made an appearance at their mother’s house, but they ended up assaulting each other.

“As the evening progressed and the day went well. We had a visitor. My father decided to come. He showed up at our new house, where we had moved a few months prior to this day. Unfortunately, his arrival came with a bit of commotion and altercation with my mother. It wasn’t the first time because he had been verbally and physically abusive to my mother for as long as I could remember. But this time, it was heavy to a point that the whole neighbourhood came to a standstill. I felt that this time the abuse was against me.” 

This preceded a permanent separation and her mother got remarried to another man. They moved along with her to live with their stepfather. She loved her father and craved for his impossible return, and this affected her relationship with their new father. “I was holding on hope that my father is going to come back, but the new relationship meant that the doors were shut, and the train had left. The new man tried to charm me and my sisters, but it didn’t work. That was a hard moment.”

All these experiences threw Lady Mandy into depression at 22, and she underwent therapy to tackle the effects that tag along with it. She says she has healed, and she is now leading a happy life thanks to the support of her close friends, who stood by her at the lowest moments of her life.