Music executive Ubi Franklin has candidly shared how he narrowly survived a suicide attempt following the collapse of his marriage to Nollywood actress Lilian Esoro. The former couple, who wed in November 2015 and separated a year later, share a son named Jason. After an extended legal separation, their union was officially dissolved by an Abuja High Court on Thursday, January 28, 2021.
Ubi Franklin recounts pre-wedding turmoil
In a video posted online, Ubi recounted the emotional turbulence that preceded their wedding, revealing that Esoro developed "cold feet" on two separate occasions after his proposal. He explained that he met his ex-wife on January 4, 2015, and proposed to her on March 19, 2015. After the engagement, he set up a nice dinner at Eko Hotel, inviting all his friends, but she did not turn up. She had dropped the ring and left, leaving him embarrassed and the incident widely discussed on social media.
"Have you ever cried to a point where you get to a certain level that you cannot cry again? That's where I was," Ubi said. "I couldn't stay in my house. I rang to Iyanya's house to see if I could find her because she disappeared and nobody knew where she was. They finally called me and said they found her. I started asking questions about what could have happened, and I got nothing."
Second rejection and eventual marriage
He detailed a specific incident on March 21, 2015, when he checked into a hotel after she returned her engagement ring. According to Ubi, Esoro later followed him to his room, explaining that she was struggling with anxiety over their upcoming marriage. They then planned the wedding and flew to London for a week. Upon returning to Nigeria on April 6, 2015, they attended AY Live, and everything seemed beautiful. However, the next day, he found that she had dropped the ring on the bed and left again, describing it as "another roller coaster."
Ubi said Lilian returned to him sometime in June, claiming she was ready to get married. He agreed, and she planned the wedding. They got married but eventually went their separate ways. "We didn't go on social media to fight ourselves. We didn't kill anybody. We became good friends. Sometimes she is angry with me, sometimes I am angry at her," he noted.
Suicide attempt on Third Mainland Bridge
The music boss revealed that the extreme emotional toll of their subsequent divorce nearly drove him to take his own life. "I remember one time, I bought a red CLA, and I drove that car to the Third Mainland Bridge to go and commit suicide. The only luck I had was that my cousin came to save me. Several times I tried to commit suicide but he came to save me. I was so embarrassed; I didn't know what to do. I felt like, what have I done to deserve all of this… I had a good career going on for myself. I had one of the biggest artists at the time in the country, and I felt this was just the time for me to settle down."
Lessons learned and co-parenting
He concluded by saying that his marriage didn't work because it was just meant to be. "Sometimes, I feel this relationship didn't work because it was meant to be that way. Tell me, till today, I can't really explain what happened. We are very good friends; we co-parent very well, and we celebrate events of our son. Sometimes I always believe that, regardless of all the pain, the best result that I got from that was my son."
"The lesson here is that when something happens to a human being, you have to hate the human being. No! That is not the case. If something happens between you and somebody, the lesson is for you to learn from the process and keep it moving," he added.
