One of the most astonishing things in this whole story is that Judy does not seem to understand what she did wrong. She has absolutely no problem with adultery and infidelity. She has no understanding that a married man is expected to be faithful to his wife. Judy has no idea of the importance of a person keeping his words and being honest. For 6 years or more, Judy and Yul lied to the world and cheated. The fact that Judy had no problem with that is one of the most troubling aspects of their story
By Emeka Ugwuonye
As you know, our organization, DPA Family Law Clinic, has been actively following the case of Yul Edochie and his marriage. The following points must always be on your mind whenever you analyze the tragedy called Yul Edochie.
What it means to be a celebrity:
As a celebrity, you are held to a higher standard because you become a model. That is why companies are able to pay you a lot of money to associate your image to their products. When you become a celebrity, you enjoy so many privileges, respect, notice and attention from the society. In return for this, you conduct your life in a manner that is consistent with the standards of society. Every step you take as a celebrity, you consider the society and how your actions will be perceived and how they would affect the society. This is why celebrities hire publicists and managers to help them. There is such a tightly synched dynamic between the actions of the celebrity, his perception in society, his career and success in life. Any celebrity that ignores that dynamic will run into a big problem.
When Yul dabbled into an open adultery and then bigamy, he failed to obey the law of that synched dynamic. He ignored the society and failed to consider the fact that his actions failed to reflect the ideal. Lately, when you read and see Yul’s activities on social media, you will see a man in serious trouble, in self-doubt and desperate to salvage a reputation badly damaged by self. He is lashing out as he tries to understand or manage the crises he created when he ignored the law of synched dynamics. He is constantly complaining that people are not minding their businesses and that they hate him or that they failed to leave him alone. That actually shows that Yul is not as intelligent as one would have thought. He did not understand that a celebrity fails when people leave him alone. You cannot be acting in movies and producing movies and at the same time begging people to leave you alone. It is like a person who opens a shop and starts begging customers to ignore his shop.
This ignorance is even worse when seen in Judy. She was seen complaining that people where telling Yul how to mourn his son. And she was visibly angry about it. What an ignorant, audacious woman! Without people’s interest in Yul’s life, there would be no Yul she would want to snatch from his wife. When you look at the level of ignorance displayed by Yul and Judy, it will occur to you that our movie industry has failed to really train and discipline actors. There are no standards in that industry.
Yul Edochie is so ignorant that he would qualify for an illiterate if not that he went to some educational institution. Till today, Yul cannot understand the simple logic – that a person married under the Marriage Act cannot have a polygamy. If so, Judy Austin is only a girlfriend to him and what they are doing remains adulterous
There is a clear law and legal standard that were violated: Yul cannot and did not have a second wife because the laws of his country forbids a person who has his type of marriage from getting a second wife. It is often so nauseating when people refer to Judy as Yul’s second wife without placing the phrase “second wife” in quote or in parenthesis. Judy is not married to Yul. The two cannot be married unless and until Yul’s marriage to May has been properly dissolved. And only the High Court can dissolve that marriage. Again, we go back to the issue of education and knowledge. Yul Edochie is so ignorant that he would qualify for an illiterate if not that he went to some educational institution. Till today, Yul cannot understand the simple logic – that a person married under the Marriage Act cannot have a polygamy. If so, Judy Austin is only a girlfriend to him and what they are doing remains adulterous.
People would say that this has been done elsewhere; why is Yul’s own different? And that is when we go back to the celebrity status. Many people are doing many wrong things. But they are not celebrities. And above all, most people who do bad things do not feel so proud about their deeds. If Yul had been able to act like others – that is: do it and keep quiet about it, leaving it all to rumors and speculations – much of his troubles might have been avoided. But Yul announced to the world that he had a second wife and that he was a proud polygamist. It is either he was a total fool or he really thought that he had become so big that he could reset the standards of acceptable social behavior whenever he liked. In other words, he could have thought that any objections about bigamy would be wiped out once Yul commits it.
Yul found in Judy a perfect match in absurdity: One of the most astonishing things in this whole story is that Judy does not seem to understand what she did wrong. She has absolutely no problem with adultery and infidelity. She has no understanding that a married man is expected to be faithful to his wife. Judy has no idea of the importance of a person keeping his words and being honest. For 6 years or more, Judy and Yul lied to the world and cheated. The fact that Judy had no problem with that is one of the most troubling aspects of their story. For Judy to be on the media angry that people question her obviously criminal act is an incredible thing to behold. The fact that Judy does not see how she wronged May, how her presence brought so much hardship to that family: the fact that she could not see it is the biggest problem.
As I stated from the outset, May will be able to get damages awarded against Judy for committing adultery with her husband. The adultery is continuing as we speak. It will remain adultery until May and Yul are divorced by the High Court of Lagos State.
•Emeka Ugwuonye writes from Rockville, MD.
