The ‘harmless’ comments from church members that hurt Adjetey Anang’s wife

The “family was very supportive and the usual pressures from the extended family weren't the case at all” when Adjetey Anang and his wife Elom had no child six years after marriage, but comments from some members of their church rattled her although she concedes such remarks were not made out of malice.

Having “gone through many failed procedures, failed medication among others”, she became “moody and emotional most of the time”, to the point that any comment related to the subject got her bruised.

“Well-meaning people from church passed innocent comments that turned out to hurt me more; their petty comments and stray shots went too deep and stoked the hurt inside me,” Elom highlighted in Chapter 11 of her husband’s memoir.

Among the comments were “When is the baby coming”, and “We can't wait to see Jnr Adjetey”, which according to Elom, “all came in harmlessly, but obviously these felt pretty hurtful even when the concern was genuine. Of course, many people did have malicious intent when asking about a baby, but sometimes, it was a loud reminder that I still did not have a baby.”

Elom, now a mother of one, expressed concern about how some questions and remarks should be discouraged as she described them as “insensitive” and an invasion of privacy regardless of how innocent they may seem to be.

She said: “The communal culture of looking out for each other in our part of the world has made many people believe that it's okay to ask sensitive questions and feel a sense of responsibility to get involved in private matters. But I believe we all need to be a little considerate in our comments of other people's business and respect their privacy always.”

On page 133 of the memoir as sighted by GhanaWeb, Elom recalled some other embarrassing moments, saying: “…after church, someone actually approached us to pray for us at the car park. It was humiliating and insensitive because here we were trying to stay out of the limelight!”

“There were people who came telling us about dreams they had had, people offering all sorts of solutions and these all made it more difficult for us.”

Adjetey Anang, 50, launched his memoir on his golden jubilee anniversary. The memoir titled ‘Adjetey Anang: A story of Faith, Imperfection and Resilience’ tells Adjetey Anang’s journey to stardom, his impact, lessons, struggles, and the sacrifices which have shaped him over the years.

It also reveals the relatable individual behind the varied captivating screen characters he has played over the years, including the legendary Pusher from the iconic TV series Things We Do for Love.

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