By Daniel Oluwatobiloba Popoola Daniel
Nigeria’s oldest living and longest-serving actress, Grace Owoola Oyin-Adejobi, popularly known as Iya Osogbo, has revealed that she married five different women for her late husband, Oyin Adejobi, describing it as one of the unusual sacrifices she made in support of his career.
The 96-year-old veteran actress disclosed this while speaking about her experiences in Nigeria’s Yoruba travelling theatre industry, shortly after celebrating her 96th birthday.
She explained that the marriages were tied to the demands of their travelling theatre career and the need to sustain their productions at the time.
“I married five different women for my husband,” she said
Grace joined the Oyin Adejobi Theatre Company in 1953, beginning a career that has since spanned more than seven decades.
Her husband was one of the pioneers of Nigeria’s Yoruba travelling theatre tradition, having established a theatre company that went on to shape the development of Yoruba stage and screen productions.
Throughout the company’s history, Grace played a significant role alongside her husband, contributing to numerous stage, television and film productions.
Over the decades, she rose to become one of the most recognisable female figures in Nigeria’s traditional theatre industry, a status that earned her the popular name, Iya Osogbo.
At 96, Grace Oyin-Adejobi remains one of the oldest surviving practitioners of Nigeria’s travelling theatre tradition and a living link to the country’s early theatrical era.
