In 2002, at the age of 18, Jackie Chandiru joined the Coca-Cola Pop Star Competition on a whim. She was surprised when she won the competition, with Lillian Mbabazi and Cindy Sanyu.
At that time, it never occurred to her that she would ever see headlines pinning her to suicidal tendencies, drug misuse, molestation and failed marriage as it so happened March 2016.
Several tabloids for more than a month reported that she was tired of living and wanted to die, because she felt her life was a mess.
With photos still stuck on the internet of her condition, media houses further reported that she had scars caused by cocaine and heroin injections.
Following an interview published by Daily Monitor yesterday, much of what was reported prior holds no verity.
“Being in rehab is like being in a place where you have no contact with the outside world, can’t speak freely to your loved ones, or can’t get KFC anytime. It is equivalent to prison,” she says
“My family has been very supportive. You see, nearly every media house was scrambling for a front page of my pictures and a story with their own theories of what might have happened to me. This angered me terribly because nobody bothered to look for me and actually ask or see exactly what was wrong, they simply wrote or yapped on radio about what they did not know. My family kept me grounded and strong all this time. Up to now,”
Jackie says that hospital hardened her a lot, “the emotional damage I got there just hearing rumors was way beyond. A lot was written about me, 80 per cent false. My husband, my family and I faced these shameful stories quietly for months but I thank God I healed and I got a second chance, that is why I came out harder, stronger and different,”
Concerning what was reported to have been a counterfeiter marriage, she said that the courts of law and Church of Uganda could never grant a marriage if one of the parties was still married elsewhere.
With a few more surgeries left, she shared her learnt lesson urging that sometimes the price we pay just to be able to innocently sleep painlessly is too high and should never be endured, no matter what.
marvin@ugchristiannews.com/courtesy Photo – Facebook.com/JackeChandiru
