“Everyone in my neighborhood called me a b@stard because I was born out of r@pe. I grew up hearing it” -Helen Paul

Nigerian comedian, Helen Paul has revealed the circumstances surrounding her birth and how she grew up feeling rejected and unlovable.

She shared her emotional story at a recent event. According to Helen Paul, she was born out of rape, and her mother was ashamed of her.

She was often called a b@stard by her aunties and their neighbors. From childhood, she was told that she would never amount to anything.

The comedian revealed that her mother would often tell her that she was “home be met,” which is a Yoruba phrase that means “born of shame.” This phrase made her feel even more rejected and worthless.

Despite all the negative things she was told, Helen Paul grew up to be a strong and resilient woman.

In a viral video, she said;

“Some of us cannot take rejection. Some of us do not know that the words we say can make someone feel rejected forever. But in the way it worked for me, it was different. What Yoruba called Akanda, a special child, appointed child. Okay, so you must have heard before where I shared on a stage saying I was born out of r@pe. And I grew up with my great grandmother where everybody in the compound in the area would call me bastard.

So I grew up hearing that you are a b@stard. I grew up saying my aunties come to give grandma money for feeding. And they would tell grandma, I don’t know if she told my love, and my mother told me a little bit, and I told her, we are not saying you should use this money to take your own b@stard child.

We are saying you should use it to take care of yourself, buy your medicine. And my mom would say, okay, once they leave, my mom would turn to me and my mom would speak in pidgin. You don’t hear aunties said. But they don’t tell you who you be. If you like, grow up, forget yourself.

 Because of the  shame, my mother didn’t know what to do or to run to, according to what she told me.

So sometimes, she would just carry me without money. She would be looking for where to eat. Then one day ,she went to Makoko. She heard that there’s this church in Makoko where they share food for free and fruits. And that was a cele church, open 24 hours. So she would go there just to collect food.”

Helen Paul revealed that at a young age, she had no name and was gifted one by a pastor who saw her mum feeding her fruit because there was no food.

When she was registered in a school, they requested for her surname but she had none too because h aunties forbade her mother and grandmother from giving her their father’s name. Thankfully, a man in the school lent her his own name.