My daughter helped me quit smoking, says dancer

ayodele johnson

July 10, 2016 10:36 PM

According to Kuti, the thought of losing her life before her daughter graduated from the university encouraged her to quit smoking.

Yeni Kuti

Yeni Kuti, the first daughter of late Afro-beat legend, Fela, has revealed that she used to be addicted to smoking.

She decided to put an end to her urges when she started having chest pain, which seemed to her to be life threatening.

Kuti disclosed this in an interview with The Sun, stating that the thought of not being alive to see her daughter, Rolari, graduate from the university motivated her to stop her need to get a fix.

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“Before my daughter went into the university, I used to smoke and suffer chest pains. I was like ‘if I continue smoking I may die before my daughter graduates’.

“That was the inspiration I needed to stop smoking because for years, I had been telling myself that I would stop smoking on the first day of January, but by January 4 I was still smoking.

“But this time, I didn’t wait for January 3 or 4. I simply told myself that if I continued smoking, I would die and never see my daughter graduate. And that was just too important for me, so I just stopped. I have stopped smoking for three years. The fear of not being able to educate my child gave me that inspiration. I was like, who will educate this girl if I die?”

She got all moochy talking about her daughter, who is now married.

According to Kuti, she can no longer interact with her as she used to, since she now lives with her husband.

“I miss my daughter but we talk regularly. I can’t call her in her husband’s house the way I used to call her before"

“I am a very happy mother because my daughter is married and settled, and they both love each other”, she said.

ayodele johnson