Nike Oshinowo

“I talk about this pain, now, so that mothers, when their young daughters are starting their periods for the first time, and it is traumatic, they will go and sit with the doctors, ask questions and have it checked out”

“It is extraordinary the effect that endometriosis has on your life especially if you are ignorant. Ignorance is of two types – knowingly or unknowingly. My mother, unknowingly, was ignorant, because nobody had educated her about endometriosis”

“At last it was understood why if I come to your party, at 8pm I had to go home to bed and to take my pain killers; because when you live with endometriosis, you live with pain. I have a library in my home. It is a library about pain. I have so many books on pain cure”

“Until I turned 40, Nigerians didn’t know I suffered from endometriosis. I granted an interview and Nigerians understood why I never drank alcohol. You cannot be on medication and take alcohol. It was finally understood why I was so clean cut and into healthy living. The first time I experienced the pain of endometriosis was very traumatic. I thought I was going to die. Really, I have lost count of the number of surgeries that I have had but I sure know that it’s more than 17 times”

“I have never had an examination without my period, I have never travelled without my period. There are so many things I have never done without my period. When I’m very happy, my period comes, When I’m depressed, my period is there. I learned just to cope with it. I love the quote that women wear their pain like stilettos. That’s what I have been doing”

“It’s so easy for someone who looks like me to say NO; when every time I look in the mirror the face of a thirty-year old stares back at me. If I didn’t look like this; if I hadn’t aged so well; who knows? It’s an impossible question to answer”

“Like everyone else, I just do the best I can. I’m constantly juggling. I constantly feel guilty. I constantly feel I should be better and should be doing a lot more with them. As a mother, it’s never ending. But I do acknowledge that I am very lucky to have a phenomenal team at home”

“I chose to have my children look like my cousins, the children of my sister, and the children of my brother – all the same colour. I did what I needed to do to make that happen. My children bear Oshinowo. It’s a very good surname to have!”

“I have lived with endometriosis since the age of 13. I was sent to boarding school in England when I was seven. I went to prep school. It was during the first few days in secondary school that I began my periods (menstrual). They called the ambulance and I was hospitalized for 10 days because the pain started and wouldn’t stop. I thought I was going to die. Living with endometriosis is a challenge.”

“My businesses revolves around things I like..., I love food, sleep, wish I could say I love exercise but I don't! I like to be healthy. I am not about fashion what I am about is beauty; hair, skin.”

“I am impressed with certain females. Being a woman, even though I am not actively promoting this gender alone, there are women featured in the show that dazzled my imagination. Dakore being one, is one of the most intelligent and coherent. She has the most passionate set of morals.”

“I like TV. I like watching precisely the kind of show that I am doing now. I want one show which gives me everything from current affairs to the happening music, movies as well as stars that are doing well like Genevieve, Omotola, while at the same time watching conversations with politicians, business leaders without having to change the channel.”

“These days, no real questions get answered and no real issues get dealt with but the late night shows will be more real and on when the children are asleep. This will give us an opportunity to have real adult conversation, of whatever could be bothering you.”

“This is the only interview I’m going to give about it because my children didn’t choose to come into this world or choose to be famous that way. I’m the one who’s famous. My children are not famous. I’m hoping they’re going to be able to live very normal lives.”

“It will inject life and fun into the weekday evenings of the viewing audience, bringing a vast array of local and international acts and celebrities from the world of art, cinema, music and politics into the viewer’s living room.”