Nollywood actress Irewole Olaniyan has found herself at the centre of a social media controversy after a woman identified as Maryam Edris accused her of being involved with her husband.
The allegation quickly spread across social media, with Maryam accusing the actress of having a relationship with her husband for about three years, interfering in her marriage and benefiting from the man’s financial support.
The accusations triggered a wave of criticism against Irewole, with some netizens branding her a “husband snatcher” and calling on her to stay away from another woman’s marriage.
But Irewole has since broken her silence. While the actress acknowledged the man, she strongly denied knowingly dating a married man and said she ended things after discovering his marital status.
Here is what happened.
How The Controversy Started
The controversy became public on October 3, 2026, after Maryam took to social media to accuse Irewole of being involved with her husband. In a lengthy post, which has since been deleted, Maryam alleged that the actress had been seeing her husband for about three years.
She claimed that she had previously contacted Irewole privately to address the matter. According to Maryam, the actress told her that she did not know the man was married, said he was not her type and claimed she had blocked him. Maryam, however, alleged that the relationship continued. She further claimed that her husband had been involved in funding Irewole’s movie productions, trips and lifestyle, and alleged that the actress travelled with him to South Africa in September 2024.
Maryam described Irewole as a “home wrecker” and accused her of continuing to contact her husband through different phone numbers and asking him for money.
The Private Messages Before The Public Fallout
The controversy was not entirely a first-time confrontation between the two women. Screenshots shared by the actress in connection with the dispute show Maryam messaging Irewole directly and warning her to stay away from the man. In one 2025 message, Maryam told the actress:
“Stay away from him. He’s my husband.”
She also told Irewole that she had seen her conversation with the man and said she had kept screenshots for record purposes. The exchange later became part of Irewole’s explanation of why she believed the accusations were unfair.
In another conversation, Irewole told Maryam that she had gone on a date with the man more than a year earlier and insisted that she did not know he was married at the time. She also said they had stopped communicating.
Irewole Admits They Went On Dates
On Sunday, October 4, Irewole addressed the controversy publicly on Instagram. The actress did not deny ever seeing the man. Instead, she explained that they had gone on a few dates before she knew he was married. She wrote:
“I am NOT with this said man and I HAVEN’T been with this man since I found out he was married.”
According to Irewole, one of the dates was filmed by the restaurant they visited and the video was later posted by the restaurant. She said she had no problem with the video being public because she was not hiding the relationship and, at the time, genuinely did not know the man had a wife. She explained:
“We had a few dates and a video of us on one of those dates was made and was posted by one of the restaurants.”
Irewole said she believed Maryam discovered the restaurant video about a year later. However, she maintained that by the time Maryam contacted her, she had already ended things with the man.
‘I Left Her Husband Before She Reached Out’
Irewole said she told Maryam that she had already walked away from the relationship. She also claimed that she apologised to her after she reached out.
“I told her her man isn’t my type and apologized to her and she accepted the apology,” Irewole said, adding that Maryam still disagreed with her account of whether she had officially dated the man.
According to the actress, that should have been the end of the matter. Irewole’s version therefore differs sharply from Maryam’s claim that the relationship continued for years.
While Maryam alleged that the relationship remained ongoing, Irewole maintains that she stopped seeing the man after learning that he was married. In the actress’s words:
“I went on a date with the said man sometime last year, over a year ago. Never knowing he was married, since then we stopped communicating. As your husband is not my type of man!
Fast forward to this year we began communicating, mind you I still never knew he was married, until you texted me feb 18th Which we’ve fully stopped communicating since that day and both blocked each other.
I’m a woman myself and wouldn’t want to be the reason for another woman’s pain but at the same time wouldn’t condone you laying curse at me at false accusations for that matter Nothing ever happened between me and your man.”
Irewole Says The Man Kept Reaching Out
The actress also introduced another part of the story in her response. She claimed that although she had ended communication with the man, he continued trying to contact her.
“However, the said man wouldn’t stop reaching out to me,” she said. Irewole believes Maryam eventually became aware of those attempts and decided to take the matter public. She also accused Maryam of repeatedly messaging her and threatening to damage her reputation.
According to the actress, Maryam would often refer to her lifestyle and her outings with her actual partner as evidence that she was involved with married men. Irewole said she sometimes responded because she felt she was being deliberately targeted.
The Allegation That He Funded Her Lifestyle
Another major part of the controversy was the claim that the man was financially supporting Irewole. Maryam alleged that her husband had helped fund the actress’s movie projects, trips, expensive bags and lifestyle.
Those claims were quickly repeated by commenters, with some netizens questioning how Irewole could afford her lifestyle and suggesting that the alleged married man was behind it.
Irewole strongly rejected that narrative. She said she would not normally respond to claims about her achievements and lifestyle, but felt the allegations were now undermining her hard work and the people who had invested in her career. She continued:
“I had to address this because my HARDWORK & CONSISTENCY & CREDIBLE INVESTORS would not be reduced to being funded by a man that I’m not with.”
The actress maintained that her career was built through her own work and legitimate investors, rather than the alleged financial support described by Maryam.
In closing her statement, Irewole returned to what she described as the most important part of her defence. She said she would never knowingly have gone on a date with a married man. She said:
“Again, I genuinely didn’t know he was married and I’d never even gone on a date with him if I knew.”
She thanked friends, family and fans who had supported her through the controversy and said she did not take their support for granted. The actress then redirected attention to her career, encouraging her supporters to look forward to her upcoming movie projects.
The Internet Already Judged Irewole
Before Irewole gave her detailed response, the reaction online had already become intense. Many commenters told her to leave another woman’s husband alone and accused her of being a side chick. Some expressed disappointment because they had previously admired her or enjoyed her acting.
One commenter wrote that, despite liking Irewole and her work, dating another woman’s husband was unacceptable.
Others repeatedly told her to “leave people’s husband alone”, while some questioned why she could not find a single man instead.
Some netizens also claimed that a married man was funding her movies and lifestyle, repeating Maryam’s allegations as though they were established facts.
The actress’s career was dragged into the conversation as well. One commenter said they could no longer watch her films, while another mocked the situation by suggesting that the behaviour mirrored some of the characters Irewole plays on screen.
The backlash became so intense that some comments even referenced acid attacks against alleged side chicks. Those remarks, however, went beyond criticism and reflected how heated the online conversation had become.
What We Know So Far
The controversy has established at least one point that Irewole herself does not dispute: she and the man went on dates. Where the two sides disagree is what happened after that.
Maryam claimed the relationship continued for years and that her husband supported Irewole financially. Irewole has clarified that she did not know he was married when they dated, ended things a long time ago and was no longer with him when Maryam confronted her.
The screenshots from their private exchanges show that Maryam had previously confronted the actress and warned her to stay away from her husband. They also show that the dispute existed before it became a wider social media controversy.
What started as a private dispute between two women has now become a public debate over relationships, marriage, responsibility and the price of being a public figure in the age of social media.
