‘I wish I never did it’ – Dennis Okari opens up on his failed marriage with Betty Kyallo
Media personality Dennis Okari has for the first time opened up about his failed marriage to fellow journalist Betty Kyallo.
Speaking during a candid interview with Lady Bishop Kathy Kiuna, Okari reflected on their brief marriage, shedding light on the challenges they faced that led to their divorce.
Brief marriage
Narrating the events that led to their marriage, the veteran news anchor disclosed that he decided to officiate their union because they had a child out of wedlock and also he felt like it was every girl’s dream to have a wedding.
However, Okari, who seems to regret rushing into the marriage, disclosed that after the grand wedding, they started drifting apart.
“We got our daughter and we started living together. Life just continued moving on. Then it got to a point I felt it was every girl’s dream to have a wedding. So we got into planning the wedding and we did it. It was such a lavish wedding. We were the talk of the town. After our wedding, we went back and the reality of now you are married started eating us. The moment you commit and do a wedding and enter a covenant, that’s when hell breaks loose. Reality hits. When you are just single nothing much really happens,” he disclosed.
“It started feeling like how you start drifting really apart. Like this is really not meant to be. It was so fast after the wedding. To be honest I wish I never did it. Although I did it out of a good heart to try and correct a wrong. We had a child out of wedlock. So am breaking protocol and I was like why don’t we just make this official.”
He admitted that it reached a point where they had to end the marriage since their interests were not aligning.
“I did not know two wrongs don’t make a right. I never consulted God about it… It got to a point where it could not just last. We all had our interest. I loved God. I grew up in a certain way and things were not going in that way. A lot of things started coming out,” he added.
“All these things were happening at the same time and am caught up in a crossfire. the attention is on me. Deep down there was something I was struggling with. I couldn’t answer this ‘ Was this marriage of God?’ I couldn’t say yes or no. Years later I’m finding myself asking the question, ‘What did I get myself into?’ It was never meant to be from the very beginning but we were forcing and just pushing it because we had a child. I came true to myself and realised this marriage was not really of God and was not meant to be. She was not really my wife. I was not her husband.”
Genesis of their relationship
In the interview, Okari disclosed that their paths crossed in a newsroom where he was a news anchor while Betty was an intern who was interested in reading news. Later on, their professional friendship evolved into a romantic relationship which later led to the birth of their daughter.
“I met Betty in the newsroom. She was an intern we became friends, so she also wanted to read the news, when I was doing the news she would come and watch how I was doing it.
“She was so keen and interested in doing it and I would encourage her so one thing led to another we became very close friends and later on we had a relationship. And out of that, we had a child. And so the reality of what has happened what do I do? This is not what I had planned I was so confused, I went to my dad and told him what had happened. I had this friend and we are expecting a child. So he looked at me and asked me if I was sure it was my child and I said yes. He told me I had to plan to be a father, He never rejected me,” Okari disclosed.
