Nigerian singer and dancer Yeni Kuti, daughter of Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti, has revealed intimate details of her late mother’s sex life.
Yeni’s mum, Remilekun Anikulapo-Kuti, was Fela’s first wife.
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She was born on 12 July 1941 in London and received her early education in Lagos, Nigeria. After moving to London, she attended Princess Alice School and Home in Sutton Coldfield, England.
She married Fela on 7 January 1961, and they divorced in the 1980s.
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Together, they bore three children: Yeni, Femi and Sola, who died in 1997.
Speaking on TVC’s flagship show, Your View, on Thursday about the importance of sex in marriage, Yeni, 64, noted that while sex is a key part of marriage, choosing celibacy is also a valid option.
Citing her late parents’ marriage, Yeni said, “We have to break it down into parts; firstly, sex is very important in marriage, secondly, celibacy is a matter of choice.
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“My mummy moved out of my father’s house in 1981, and she died in 2002. From 1981 till she died, she never met another man; she was celibate during that period. I knew, but I could never understand.
“She got cancer in between and she went for a check up, when the doctor asked why she isn’t using it, that it’s closing up, she said, ‘Fela is the only man for me’,” she said.
Mrs Kuti
Not much was publicly known about Fela’s marriage to Remilekun.
However, on 6 January 2025, Yeni and Femi Kuti published their late mother, Remilekun Anikulapo-Kuti’s memoir, ‘ Mrs Kuti’.
The memoir explores the turbulent years of their mother’s life with Fela, documenting personal and shared struggles as they journeyed through fame.
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The book’s description reads, ‘‘Without regret or rancour, Remilekun Anikulapo-Kuti invites us into her extraordinary life as a love interest, the wife and the estranged partner of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the Afrobeat legend.
Fela Kuti
“Her writing takes us from years in a home for orphaned children in the English Midlands to London, where she met the dashing Fela at a party, to moving to Nigeria, where Remilekun navigates culture shock, the complexities of love and loss, and the joys of motherhood.”
Mrs Kuti died on 12 January 2002 after battling cancer, while Fela died on 2 August 1997 from AIDS related complications.
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