Nollywood actress, Joke Silva, has revealed that her husband, and Veteran actor, Olu Jacobs, is living with dementia.
Dementia is a general term for loss of memory, language, problem-solving, and other thinking abilities that are severe enough to interfere with daily life.
In a recent interview with media personality, Chude Jideonwo, Silva said her husband had been living in this state for some years.
“He is dealing with issues and it is been going on for a couple of years. It is known as dementia with Lewy Bodies, DLB.
“It is a degenerative disease that affects the brain and it is almost like a Parkinson’s type of disease, it affects the brain and affects the person.
“First time I’m saying this publicly… that is what we have been dealing with but the thing is, it is hard on him because he doesn’t understand what is going on and it is hard on us family members as well.
“We have gone through some times and situations recently that I wish I had the old you here so I don’t battle these times on my own but we are grateful for the moment of clarity. I miss the times we work together.”
The actress also spoke about her being adopted, disclosing how she found out about this when she was just 10 years old.
She said, “It’s something like where one is just getting to share it in the public. It is something that I found out when I was much younger. Mine was a secret adoption. It was not something that my parents discussed.
“My mum’s elder sister wanted me to travel with her to Kenya and my mother was not around. She asked if I knew where my passport was and I was like yes yes yes. I know where mum keeps all the important documents.
“Then I go to the important suitcase that has all the important documents, where I found my passport but also found my adoption certificate. It was like ‘I beg your pardon. I was 10-11 at the time. It was a bit shattering.
“It was tough. You know how you’re very sensitive as a child. There was just something in it letting you know they would have discussed it with you if it was something they wanted to discuss.
“But I got to a point when I was able to discuss it, myself and my mum. What was interesting is that she found it easier to discuss it with my older son than she did with me. My mum wasn’t comfortable discussing it.”