By Ngozi Onyeakusi—Actor and broadcaster Patrick Doyle has described his ex-wife and fellow actor Ireti Doyle as a first-class mother.

In a recent interview with QEDNG publisher Olumide Iyanda, the veteran entertainer said he will not speak ill of his former spouse though their union did not end on a happy note.

Mr Doyle and Ireti got married in 2004, five years after his first wife died of sickle cell anaemia. By 2017, they were no longer together.

He told Mr Iyanda that their relationship now is “very cordial”.

“Ireti is a first-class mother and provider for her children. She’s taking care of my daughter. How can I wish her ill? As far as mothers go, they don’t come any better. She provides 360 mothering care,” he said.

The movie star noted that he is not afraid to make complimentary statements about his ex-wife, adding that if he cannot say something edifying about someone in public, he would rather not say anything.

He said his 2018 post on Facebook which was like an apology to Ireti was to calm tension and take responsibility for the situation in their marriage at the time.

“It is my duty as a man to say you don’t look happy. Whatever happens, the responsibility for the stability of the home is that of the head of the home. So that was a bid to fulfil my responsibility to ease whatever the tensions were at the time,” he said.

Since their divorce, Doyle and Ireti have featured together in a few projects, one of them is the 2023 thriller The Black Book.

In his March 2023 Mothering Sunday post on Facebook, he listed women who have impacted him — his late mum Angela Doyle, late elder sisters Victoria Doyle and Ayodeji Alakija, and late wife Rosamond Doyle. He left out Ireti.

When Iyanda pointed out that Ireti’s name was missing in the post, the actor said: “If the person is missing then the person is missing. Has she told you that she was happiest with me? If I’m not true to myself then I’m an agbaya. My late mother, my sisters and my late wife; they impacted me in a positive way. Why should I remember something that ended in an unhappy way fondly? The outcome was not pleasant so why I should tell that lie?”

The 63-year-old also spoke about his new wife Olufunmilayo Doyle with whom he said he has never been happier.

“Yes, I’ve never been happier in my life and I say it with all responsibilities. Do I not look like a happy man? Do I look my age? Am I not looking radiant? Have I looked this radiant in living memory? I’ve never been happier in my life.

“For anyone to think it was a slight on another person, that person must be very low on the food chain of humanity. How can you quarrel with a man’s happiness? Did I ever announce to you that I was unhappy? I said ‘I have never been this happy,’ it means ‘I’m at my happiest now.’ It means my past has been happy, now my present is happier, my future is going to be even happier,” he said.

Patrick and Olufunmilayo got married at a registry in August 2022. The actor however made their union public in March 2023.

Asked why it took that long to go public with his new spouse, he said, “…My business is my business. On the day of the registry, she posted it on one of her handles. I told her to go ahead but I said ‘I’m not posting.’

“So, it was not a secret. It was Mothering Sunday and I decided to pay tributes to her alongside the other women that had impacted my life. I was not announcing my marriage to her.”