Nollywood actor Daniel Etim-Effiong has shared his feelings about the online backlash his wife, Toyosi, often faces when discussing their marriage online.
He spoke about it during a recent sit-down with his wife on her YouTube page, revealing how deeply it affects him when people attack her for simply being herself.
“From the first day I met you, I’ve known you to be very bold and outspoken about your beliefs,” Daniel said to Toyosi. “If you love someone, the whole world has to know about it, but I’m very different. I’m not like that—I’m very reserved in my expression of things like that, but you are very out there with things that you love.”
“For that reason, when I see people come at you for just being you, it hurts me. I’m like, ‘you guys are just throwing stones at someone who just wants to be, who is just expressing herself, she’s just being herself because of who she is. She’s just being herself’ so it hurts me,” he added.
The actor admitted that while her boldness initially took some getting used to, he has come to admire this trait about her. However, he stressed that the constant criticism she receives online still stings and makes him worry about her.
He explained, “A huge part of social media doesn’t see that about you, how beautiful that is—and it took time for me to understand that about you. In the beginning, it used to irk me but I’ve come to understand that is just who you are and I love that about you. Even I am constantly adjusting myself. I also get very bothered about how you’re faring, even though you shrug it off.”
“I understand that what people see is just the tip of the iceberg. Sometimes I worry if it gets to you even though you say it doesn’t, and I want them to back off and let you be yourself,” the actor concluded.
