On Sunday, June 18, 2023, Ghanaian actress and movie producer Yvonne Nelson launched her debut book. A major talking point of the memoir, dubbed “I Am Not Yvonne Nelson,” is the revelation that she aborted a pregnancy belonging to rapper Sarkodie after he refused to take responsibility in 2010.
The rapper’s immediate reaction to the news about the pregnancy according to her was an obvious heart palpitation and a faltering voice, as he rejected the pregnancy in favour of his budding career.
However, the actress reveals that she later found out that Sarkodie had a girlfriend who was studying at a university outside the country.
“I called him on the phone and said we needed to talk. He still lived with his mother, and this was not the kind of news to break in the house. I called him out of the house when I got to Tema, and we sat in my Toyota Rav4. (He drove a Toyota Matrix at the time if my memory serves me right). I sensed the intensity of his emotions when I broke the news to him. I could hear his heart pounding, and when he finally found his voice, he faltered. His message was, however, unambiguous. He didn’t want the pregnancy. That would damage him and his career. The only option was to get rid of it. Whether or not his career and the uncertainty of life were the real reasons he could not afford to let me keep the pregnancy, I cannot tell. I later discovered that he had a girlfriend who was attending a university outside the country,” she wrote.
Describing the situation as dangerously complicated, Yvonne Nelson, in Chapter 8 of her book, said she was compelled to make the hard choice of terminating the pregnancy under the circumstances.
“It was in her absence that he got involved with me, and things got dangerously complicated. Whatever it was, his stance was clear. And I was left to evaluate my own options. The first thing that hit me when he said no to keeping the pregnancy was my own life. I had grown up without a father in my life. I had often been reminded of how I had been born by mistake. I was still wondering if the man whose name I bore was my father. How was I going to bring another human being into this world to live like me, someone whose father would reject him or her as Mr Nelson had rejected me? If there was a way to spare someone else the trauma I was contending with, why would I reject that option, especially when I was not psychologically and emotionally prepared to be a mother?” she stated.
Currently, one of Ghana and Africa’s most decorated rapper, Sarkodie, who released his debut album “Makye” in 2009, had always been private about his relationship and love life until his marriage in 2018.
The rapper married his longtime girlfriend, Tracey Owusu Addo, in 2018. Tracey had lived most of her life and studied outside Ghana.
About Yvonne Nelson’s book
“I Am Not Yvonne Nelson” is an explosive and riveting account of a young woman who sets out to discover herself but finds out that she has been living with a false identity.
The drama and the twists and turns of this moving story have all the markings of a spellbinding movie script, except that the protagonist, who is an actor, is contending with a reality that intermittently soaks her pillow with tears.
Uncharacteristic of an autobiography, the author comes to her audience stark naked. The book opens the door widely into the life of the author and exposes the good, the bad, and the ugly sides, not only of her life but also of the make-believe world of celebrities.
The launch was graced by many industry stalwarts, businessmen, and politicians, including John Dumelo, Adjetey Anang, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, and Becca. Also present were media personalities, including Manasseh Azure Awuni, Sammy Forson, and GhanaWeb Entertainment Editor Abrantepa Benefo Buabeng.
