The hope of reviving the strained union between ‘Wedding Party’ actress, Ireti Doyle and her actor/MC husband, Patrick Doyle dimmed further as Ireti stopped wearing her wedding band.
This was noticed when she stepped on the red carpet last Friday at the EbonyLife@4 celebration which also launched the TV series of ‘Fifty’ a movie she starred in.
It was her first public outing since penultimate week when the media reported her separation from husband, Patrick Doyle.
Kemiashefonlovehaven observed that Mrs. Doyle, who was wearing a floral sleeveless top on a long skirt, had ‘ringless’ fingers. The wedding band which was meant to be on the fourth finger of her left hands was missing.
The 15-year-old marriage which produced six children, (an addition of Doyle’s late wife’s and Ireti’s) is on the brink of collapse.
Ireti and Patrick lost a child to sickle cell disorders some years ago
Patrick and Ireti, sources said, are no longer living together. The Tinsel star, Iretiola, has since moved into a new apartment in Anthony Village area of Lagos, living far away from her veteran broadcaster and actor husband and children.
Their marriage has been on the rocks for a while and they stopped having shared interests.
Patrick and Ireti have not been stepping out together, a development strangely observed by many fans and media. When asked why they have not spotted together in recent time, Ireti, said:
“We are both busy people and you find that, in any one given weekend, we’ve both been invited to three or four different events where all three or four people are expecting to see us so we play it smart, we share it; if you’ve seen one you’ve seen the other.”
While the reason for their break-up is still unclear, source said Patrick and Ireti ended their relationship after thoughtful consideration and chose to remain friends.
Talking to some of their colleagues who worked with the duo while in NTA, many expressed surprise at this development.
They hinted that Ireti left Patrick Doyle having given in to ‘peer pressure.’
Peer pressure? A 50-year-old whose first daughter is married (she had Bimbo at 17) can’t simply fall into that trap.
“Why wouldn’t we call it peer pressure? We called the husband and he said there was no problem before she decided having a separation. Ireti would tell you that her husband is easy-going—Patrick is loving and not fussy. Before they got married, he was always helping her to have a hang of what television, presenting and acting was all about. He was the one taking Ireti from one studio to the other when he was at NTA and made sure she got her footing right in television production. He was her pillar of support from when she was nobody. I remember many years ago when Patrick lost his wife. We were surprised at his decision to remarry early and we all saw how she also rode on the wings of his fame and name. Now that the media is tagging her an A-list actress, she now has high-class friends and her taste has changed to urbane lifestyle. She was led astray by her friends and we believe she would return to her husband when her so-called friends betray her,” an anonymous source close to the family revealed.
The estranged couple is yet to issue any statement due to the fact that they are taking respectful and loving space at this painful time.