Among the revelations in her book ‘I Am Not Yvonne Nelson’ is her decision to terminate a pregnancy because the man who put her in that situation refused to accept responsibility on the basis that he had another girlfriend.
The man in question, according to Yvonne Nelson, was a rapper based in Tema and this incident was in 2010. In her narrative, she mentioned that the said rapper was Sarkodie, the Ghanaian musician who is now an icon and a multiple award winner.
"I had gone for a pregnancy test to confirm what becomes the most obvious conclusion for a sexually active young woman who misses her monthly flow. I was in the company of Karen. And when the test result was ready, I wasn't strong enough to open it. She did and declared the verdict.
"Charlie, it dey there!" she exclaimed.
"On an ordinary day, I would have laughed out loud and that would trigger a string of jolly conversations and jokes. But this was no laughing matter. It was a grim piece of information that was capable of turning my world upside down. I wasn't the only one responsible for the situation, so I called the man whose potent seed had germinated in me. His name is Michael Owusu Addo, a renowned Ghanaian musician who is better known as Sarkodie.
"Sarkodie was a budding musician with the potential to become one of the biggest artists in Ghana and beyond. At the time, however, the future looked uncertain, and his way through the maze of life still appeared too foggy to predict. Success was not guaranteed. He was still living with his mother and was not ready to carry a burden while he was being carried by his mother.
"I wouldn't call what had developed between us a serious relationship. I gravitated toward people in the music industry. For the longest time in my life, music was my getaway from all the unpleasant things life threw at me. So, I liked his talent. We started talking and got close. Closer," parts of the book read.
As captured in chapter 8 of her memoir launched on Sunday, June 18, 2023, the actress attempted to abort the baby by taking pills from a colleague but to her dismay, the substance could not work as a test revealed she was still pregnant.
She took the decision to abort the baby because she is fatherless and did not expect to give birth to a child whose father had refused to accept responsibility.
"The first thing that hit me when he said no to keeping the pregnancy was my own life. I had grown up without a father in my life. I had often been reminded of how I had been borne by mistake.
"I was still wondering if the man whose name I bore was my father. How was I going to bring another human being into this world to live like me, someone whose father would reject him or her as Mr. Nelson had rejected me? If there was a way to spare someone else the trauma I was contending with, why would I reject that option, especially when I was not," Yvonne Nelson said in her book.
She further recalled finally succeeding in aborting the pregnancy but said it is "one of the most regrettable mistakes in my life. If the clock of life could be rewound to my younger self, I would keep it."
About the book
'I Am Not Yvonne Nelson' is an explosive and riveting account of a young woman who sets out to discover herself but finds out that she has been living with a false identity.
The drama and the twists and turns of this moving story have all the markings of a spell-binding movie script, except that the protagonist, who is an actor, is contending with a reality that intermittently soaks her pillow with tears.
Uncharacteristic of an autobiography, the author comes to her audience stark naked. The book opens the door widely into the life of the author and exposes the good, the bad and the ugly sides, not only of her life, but also of the make-believe world of celebrities.
The launch was graced by many industry stalwarts, businessmen and politicians including John Dumelo, Adjetey Anang, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid and Becca. Also present were media personalities including Manasseh Azure Awuni, Sammy Forson and GhanaWeb Entertainment Editor Benefo Buabeng, popularly known as Abrantepa.
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