Anne Kansiime opens up on paying own bride price, decision to end marriage

Ugandan comedian Anne Kansiime has opened up about the reasons behind the end of her relationship with her former husband, Gerald Ojok.

She revealed that she spent years convincing herself and others that she was a wife when the traditional process had never been completed.

Speaking on a podcast, Kansiime said she now believes she “never became a wife” because the bride price that had been asked for by her family was never paid by her partner. 

She said Ojok had formally introduced himself to her family, but failed to bring what had been requested.

Kansiime said the matter was repeatedly raised, but in the end she paid the dowry herself and life simply went on.

“I have never become a wife, ever! I actually accused myself so much; paid my own dowry and convinced the whole world, and the man himself that we were married,” she said.

With time, she began to question the foundation of the relationship and whether it reflected the life she truly wanted.

Kansiime also said her thinking changed as she entered her 30s and felt a strong desire to have a child and build a stable family.

She explained that seeing many people around her becoming parents made her reflect deeply on her own life. 

“As I got into my thirties, that was when I realised I needed to have a child because everyone else was getting pregnant; even kids I had in my foundation were getting pregnant.,” she said.

“I wanted to be like my parents. I did not want to be a person that settled with different people, so I had to make our relationship work…and I badly wanted a child.”

Kansiime said the turning point came on her 30th birthday after her friends organised a party for her at a swimming pool in Bugolobi. At the party, she recalled that her husband embarrassed her when he showed up to pick up bones for their dog.

She recalled drinking heavily that day and waking up the next morning with a hangover in the house she had built. Ojok, she said, was seated in the living room watching tennis.

“That is when I realised that this is not where I wanted to be at 30. I said to him we needed to talk and told him, I didn’t want to be married like this. I don't think this is it."

He dismissed the seriousness of the moment, replying: “Anne, not everything is comedy!”

She said that response was the final wake-up call because it showed he could not tell when she was being serious.