Eldee on Love, Marriage, Family and Celebrity

Lanre Dabiri, or eLDee the Don as he is more popularly known, is a Nigerian music star and was featured on the BN weekend interview where he spoke about his marriage and family. I was intrigued enough to want to know more. I found that BN had also covered his wedding and I was impressed enough by their story to share.

Wedding Story - eLDee (Lanre Dabiri) and his long-term sweetie, Dolapo Latinwo-BeloThe couple have been together for about a decade. They started dating during their days as students of the University of Lagos. Eldee is a graduate of Architecture while Dolapo studied Urban & Regional Planning. The couple has grown together through their various successes and life changes. As Lanre’s musical career blossomed they still kept the romance alive. Distance also didn’t deter them as over the past few years, eLDee was based in Atlanta, USA while Dolapo was based in the UK.

INTERVIEW

Tell me about your wife. When did you meet her and how does she cope with the demands of your career?
I met my wife in 1998 just as I was about to get into music. She has been a part of it from the beginning so she gets it. Nothing really changed when we got married; it was just business as usual. She is very supportive.

And your cute daughter. How old is she now? Does she “get it” too?
She is two. She is beginning to understand the demands of my career, that I travel often which makes me sad. When I come into the house, she’s be like “Are you travelling?” And I’m like “Yes”. Then she’d say “When are you coming back”. It’s not the best of things which is why I’m hoping I can settle down and do less of the artiste stuff and more of the management stuff so that I can spend more time with her.

Let’s get back to your wife please. I know you guys have had a wonderful and long relationship. What has made your relationship survive the test of time?
We understand each other. We are friends before anything so that helps to keep things together. We are buddies. My wife and I can stay in the house for up to a month without seeing anybody else and we’d have conversations everyday and we’d not fight once. We’d chill, gist, abuse each other, laugh, play rough… that is the kind of relationship that we have.

Tell me about something romantic she has done for you recently.
She does something everyday, really. How many men can brag that they eat breakfast in bed in Nigeria? I don’t know if that is very common but that is my wife. She is the best.

There is usually a lot of pressure on celebrity couples with many people watching to see if their marriages would survive the test of time. You’ve been married for almost four years now. What is your secret to a scandal free relationship?
If you’re not out there messing about, it would be difficult for people to pin stuff on you. If somebody wants to create controversy for you and you are not that kind of person, it would be clear. The other time, somebody tried to play a scandal with me and Mo’Cheddah but we both laughed about it. I’m not the guy who leaves the club with girls, I’m not the kind of guy who has girls flocking around my studio. That is not my style. There is no smoke without fire, if you are not naturally somebody who is into drug sex or alcohol in a negative way, nobody would be able to pin stuff on you. And I think that is why nobody has been able to pin stuff on me because that is not my lifestyle.

Sources, Bellanaija eLDee Interview and Wedding Story. I wish them the best of love and marriage, a demanding career is not easy on any relationship, especially when you are in the public eye too.