For over six years, she had given her all to a
romance that had been celebrated, touted and written about as one that
was made in heaven. For six years, they had projected the image of a
blissfully happy couple that could do no wrong.
Her boyfriend of
six years– the one that is famously referred to as the 'Nollywood bad
boy', Jim Iyke has finally acted out his moniker and it is not pretty at
all.
“These days, I ask God: Why has thou forsaken me? How can a
man with whom we had gone through the highs and the lows-a man who had
professed so much undying love for me over the past six years just walk
away like that? I don't know what happened and I wish I could put a
finger on it,” Keturah had told me, sounding sad and exasperated.
Their
romance was strong, and Jim had spoken severally of plans to walk down
the aisle with her. He had told me a number of times that in Keturah, he
had found “a perfect mate – someone who was “sexy, intellectually
curious, exotic and edgy.” Keturah was known all over the world as Jim
Iyke's girlfriend – a wife in waiting. They had traveled round the
world together, and she had stood by him through most of the scandals
that have continued to trail his professional and private life.
Not
even when another woman claimed to have dated Jim Iyke and later
accused him of battering her and a business deal gone awry which was
amplified in the media, she didn't threaten to end the affair.
Jim Iyke and Keturah Hamilton
Keturah
Hamilton, the Jamaican-born actress, model and business woman was the
partner tailor-made for Jim Iyke. She had accepted and tolerated all of
the actor's 'foibles, issues and challenges' and was determined to stick
with him through thick and thin.“And then…Just when we thought the
wedding invitations will soon be mailed out; just when we thought the
loving duo had reached a point of no return in their relationship, the
news broke out that the story book romance had ruptured; that the center
of the relationship could no longer hold. Jim Iyke had 'bailed' out of
the affair and appeared to have acted out some of the elements in their
joint reality show “Jim Iyke Unscripted.” He was said to have ended
their six year-old affair in a most emotionally callous way. He simply
walked away “without even a phone call” recounted tearful Keturah.
“He
took away six years of memories, of support of love and all that I did
for him-just like that. How mean and callous can one get?
Keturah
also recounted how Jim Iyke used and dumped her. “Jim was supposed to
come to New York and stay for six months, during which time, he would go
to an acting school here in New York and then we would move to Los
Angeles and get married and pursue our acting dreams. I was looking
forward to that with eagerness and then he just walked away.”
Asked
what could have been the reason for such a change of heart, Keturah
said “We had problems like normal lovers do, but we always resolved them
amicably. I know there was something Jim asked me to do, which I didn't
want to do right away. But that should not have made him to do what he
did.”
However, when pressed to reveal what it was that Jim wanted her to do, she said it was personal.
Keturah
said she feels used and dumped. “I played along in the reality show as
if I truly was a jealous and crazy lover. It was an act, but now I feel
as if Jim set me up. He is a wicked man. I stood by him through all his
troubles and tribulations. I helped bring him to the limelight when the
light of his career was dimming. He is an ingrate and I leave him to
God.”
One thing that seems to have pained Keturah more than
anything else is the rumour making the rounds that Jim left her for the
Ghanaian actress, Nadia Buari. “That is the rumour I have heard and I
know it is not just a rumour. They have been hooking up in Ghana. They
were together at Tuface's wedding and appear to be everywhere together. I
just can't believe Jim would be this ungrateful – after all I have done
for him. I have not been able to accept this and I am truly in a state
of shock. If Jim could treat me the way he did, after six years of being
there for him, supporting him, encouraging him in all that he did, then
I wish Nadia the best of luck.”
Meanwhile, Keturah has moved on
with her life. “I am a strong woman and I am moving on with my life. God
cannot give you that which He will not provide you the platform to
stand and deal with. I wish him the best in his life.”Efforts to reach
Jim Iyke for his own side of the story was abortive as his telephone
lines were all switched off. But we will strive to get his own side of
the story next edition.
