It would be presumptuous to say the marriage has crashed.
The four-year-old union (they’ve been together for seven years) that has produced a son witnessed another round of media scrutiny when on Friday April 28, the news made the rounds that Nollywood actress, Mercy Aigbe-Gentry was battered by her husband, Lanre Gentry and she had suffered injuries on the face. She was reported to have been on admission at a hospital where she was treated as a result of the assault.
Then, Mercy was reported to have moved to another apartment in Magodo, Lagos.
According to Linda Ikeji’s blog, a post shared by the beautiful actress on Instagram gave her away.
Mercy posted:
“Say NO to DOMESTIC VIOLENCE…… Only a Coward hits a woman! REAL MEN don’t HIT!’.
Then, immediately after the post from his wife, Lanre Gentry also took to Instagram to write:
“Say No to the promiscuous and irresponsible women.”
Though a side chick has been fingered as the one disrupting Mercy’s marriage, Lanre seems to be a serial wife-beater too.
Rewind to 2013 when it was alleged that the husband had beaten her up in a Lagos hotel, dragged her inside his car, while he drove off.
The couple denied the report in a video shared on social media.
For a while, the couple who publicly display affection also took time to share photos of their time together on social media. Also, Lanre constantly shared beautiful photos of his wife on his social media handles.
However, hours after the reports on domestic assault on Mercy went viral, the hotelier husband, who was married and divorced to another woman before Mercy, took to social media and wrote:
“Well, I know my wife does not have a hand in this because I have never beaten my wife and will never beat her because I love her so much.”
The marriage is said to be bedeviled with lack of trust—the husband was said to have always accused his wife of infidelity and as a result, monitors her movements and sometimes prevents her from attending some events. Though the pretty wife has not been caught, she has been accused many times of having flings with men to keep up with her extravagant lifestyle.
Also her second marriage, Mercy, who met Lanre while she was a staff at Zenith Bank PLC, revealed she walked out of her first marriage, which produced her daughter, because of an ‘evil mother-in-law.’
According to her the woman wanted her son to marry someone from his tribe. Explaining her experience in the first failed marriage, Mercy said:
“I had a bad experience the first time, so I had some reservations and I just wanted to face my career even though I loved him. I decided to put my trust in God and just go with the flow. I was happy and scared at the same time. Then, I was young and naïve. Now, I handle issues differently. Also the major reason my first marriage failed because my ex-husband’s mum did not want him to marry from another tribe.”
Back to the trending domestic violence meted out on Mercy and the alleged separation, will the couple come out again to deny this ‘rumour’?
Unlike Lanre that posted a response, Mercy has kept mum on this issue.
