Mavin Records singing sensation, Tiwa Savage, has given more
revelation into her relationship with her estranged husband, Tunji
Balogun aka Teebillz, saying she will always appreciate him for his
contribution to her career and for believing in her when no one else
did.
Speaking as a V.I.P guest feature on entertainment channel, E! in a
mini documentary about the songstress who reportedly penned a
management deal with Jay Z's Roc Nation in New York city, Tiwa also
disclosed how her ex-hubby left his lucrative business in Los Angeles
and took her to Africa and made her a star.
Below are excerpts from the exclusive interview;
“When I first met him, I felt he was very arrogant. He was very tall, dark, handsome and very confident.
“He oozes that and he always expects that from me as well. So
when I first met him, I didn’t fall in love. It wasn’t love at first
sight. Although when he first met me, he said to me ‘so it’s either two
things; I am either going to manage you or marry you. So I was just like
‘What! You are so full of yourself; I would never date you, let alone
marry you’. So obviously, we decided he was going to manage me because I
turned down the other option.
“I never saw myself getting romantically involved with him; however, on getting to discover another side of him, I fell for him.
“We worked so closely together and I discovered this soft
emotional guy. One who gave up everything for my career. He had a great
business in L.A but he moved to Nigeria because he really believed in me
more than I believed in myself.
“So gradually I just started seeing in him, this person. So it
was inevitable. I tried to fight it. It can’t happen and I couldn’t help
it,” she said.
The singer further explained how they both had their ‘fair share of
marital ups and downs’, even as she narrated how they had a little
argument at their wedding reception.
“Everybody who is married knows that there are ups and downs in marriages and we had our fair share.
“We kind of fought on our wedding day; we just had this little
tiff outside and we are like arguing and everyone is like ‘welcome the
beautiful bride and the groom and we are dancing in and he’s just like
grumbling and it’s on camera.
“So everyone watching are like ‘Wait were you guys just arguing so it’s real but there are cute moments and real moments.”
Despite their feud, the singer didn’t dispute the fact that
Teebillz, who was her former manager, helped give her image a face-lift
and build the Tiwa Savage brand, and expressed how she felt she couldn’t
compete with the women in Los Angeles after she moved to the city on
the completion of her music course at the Berkley College of music.
“When Teebillz became my manager, he molded me into the Tiwa Savage brand we know today.
“I needed to do something and I met my manager who is now my
husband. He saw me and was like ‘you could be really pretty if you put
an effort into it’ and I was like ‘wait what do you mean’ and he was
like ‘you need to lose a little weight, wax your legs; that might be
attractive.
“So he just literally put me through this whole program and
told me that ‘the music is great, the talent is there but 80% of it is
branding.’
“So if you want to do the tom-boy thing, you have to take it to
the extreme if you want to be hot and sexy you have to take it to the
extreme. So I started learning how to wear heels and he basically just
groomed me into the image of Tiwa Savage that we see now,” the Mavin first lady stated.