Nigerian singer Tiwatope Savage, popularly known as Tiwa Savage, has spoken candidly about the trauma she endured following the leak of her private s*x tape in 2021.
The recording, which surfaced online at the time, triggered a storm of reactions across the entertainment industry. While some fans rallied behind her, others criticized the singer harshly.
Speaking in a recent interview, Savage said the experience left her feeling deeply wounded and betrayed, especially after discovering that the leak was orchestrated by her then-boyfriend.
“I feel like, if I make fun of it, and I pretend like it is not really getting to me, that’s how I will deal with it,” she said. “And I would put it in my music, but the way I would put it in my music be like when I talked about the sx tape in Loaded, and I said, who has never had sx before. But in hindsight, did I really deal with it? I do not think so.”
Savage said she initially believed her partner’s claim that the video had been sent out accidentally. But she later learned it was intentional and linked to a bet.
“He said he was trying to save it and then he pressed send by accident on Snapchat. He showed me later, but he did not even tell me. And then I later on found out that it was a bet. It was that he really bet with his friends or whatever. He was my boyfriend. I thought we were in a relationship and then I am hearing later that it was a bet.”
The singer described the episode as traumatic, noting that critics went as far as questioning her fitness as a mother.
“People were like, ‘how can you, at your age, have a s*x tape with someone?’ I did not even know. They thought it was just dirty. And I’m like, I know what some of you guys do is even worse than this, but I was a scapegoat. And that was painful for me, man. It was really painful because they brought my son into it and said I was unfit.”
Savage admitted that for a long time she tried to mask her pain with humor and music, but she has now chosen to confront the hurt openly.
“I was hurt, and it is okay for me to say I was hurt. I was a victim, it happened to me. I used to joke about it in my music, but the truth is, it broke me. Now I am living in the truth, in my truth, and admitting to myself that, yo, that sh*t hurt me.”
