Afropop sensation Yemi Alade has opened up about a deeply personal moment in her life — battling depression after realising she had been denying her real age for years.
Speaking on the With Chude podcast, the 36-year-old singer revealed that for three years, she kept telling people she was 22, only to later discover she was actually 25 at the time.
“There was a time someone asked me my age and I realized for like three years, I kept saying I was 22,” she said. “When I finally did the math from 1989, I discovered I was 25. I was depressed for days. My mind was rejecting the reality.”
Yemi explained that the confusion stemmed from being completely consumed by her music career — travelling, recording, and performing back-to-back without pausing to take stock of her personal life.
“I had secluded myself and focused only on music,” she added. “Sometimes I’d only visit my mum twice a year. I was lost in the sauce.”
The Johnny crooner also recalled another emotional moment finding her first grey hair which reminded her again of how quickly time had passed.
“When that dawned on me seeing my first grey hair it was the same feeling that time had passed,” she said.
Since her breakout hit Johnny in 2014, Yemi Alade has become one of Africa’s most celebrated female artistes, known for her powerful voice, vibrant performances, and multilingual artistry in English, Yoruba, and French.
In 2025, she earned her first Grammy nomination in the Best African Music Performance category for her hit song Tomorrow.
Her story is a candid reminder that even the brightest stars can lose themselves in the spotlight and that pausing to reconnect with oneself is a kind of healing too.
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