Temi Ajibade Opens Up About Being a ‘Nepo Baby,’ Says She Won’t Deny Her Privilege
Nigerian actress and media personality Temi Ajibade has candidly acknowledged that she is a “nepo baby,” stating that she sees no reason to deny the privileges she has enjoyed because of her family’s wealth and influence.
Speaking during a recent episode of The How Far Podcast, which she co-hosts with her husband, singer Mr Eazi, Temi explained that admitting to privilege is simply being truthful and should not diminish anyone’s personal accomplishments.
The daughter of billionaire businessman Femi Otedola said privilege extends far beyond having well-known parents. According to her, it also includes growing up with financial stability, access to quality education, proper nutrition, and opportunities that many people are not fortunate enough to have.
“You don’t have to be famous to be privileged. Privilege is growing up in a situation where your parents had a certain amount of money, you didn’t have to struggle, and you had access to education, food and a foundation in life that not everybody gets,” she said.
Temi further illustrated how nepotism works by using a hypothetical scenario involving her future child. She explained that if their child wanted to pursue a music career, they could easily introduce them to top producers and finance their music videos, giving them an advantage that many aspiring artistes would not have.
“If our child wanted to become an artiste, you would introduce them to a producer and pay for their music video. That is an unfair advantage. That is nepotism,” she stated.
She also made it clear that she has never tried to distance herself from the label, insisting that acknowledging one’s advantages is only fair.
“You can never catch me, on camera or off camera, saying I’m not a nepo baby. I find it crazy when people don’t admit to the advantage. It would be so unfair to say that,” she added.
Despite recognizing her privileged upbringing, Temi emphasized that accepting those advantages does not erase the effort she has put into building her own career.
“At the end of the day, I was given a leg up and I’ve made the most of it. I don’t know why it’s so hard for people to say that. I think it’s because they feel it discounts what they’ve achieved in life.”
She concluded by acknowledging that many of the opportunities she received were made possible by the hard work and success of those who came before her.
“I definitely got lots of privileges as a result of the hard work that came before me,” she said.
