“He has dementia” – Joke Silva opens up for the first time about husband Olu Jacobs’ health (video)

Veteran actress, Joke Silva has opened up for the first time about her husband, actor Olu Jacob’s health condition.

Speaking in a recent interview with Chude Jidonwo, the award-winning thespian disclosed that Olu Jacobs has dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB).

According to her, it’s been going on for a couple of years but this is the first time she’s speaking about it publicly.

Her words,

“He is dealing with issues and it is been going on for a couple of years. It is known as dementia with lewy body.

“It is a degenerative disease that affects the brain and it is almost like a Parkinson type of disease, it affects the brain and affects the person.

“First time i’m saying this publicly… that is what we have been dealing…but the thing is, it is hard on him because he doesn’t understand what is going on and it is hard on us family members as well.

“We have gone through it over the past couple of years but we thank God.”

She continued: “We have gone through some times and situations recently that I wish I had the old you here so I don’t battle these times on my own but we are grateful for the moment of clarity. I miss the times we work together.”

The 60-year-old actress also spoke about finding out at the age of 10 that she was adopted when she was 9 months. According to her, she stumbled on the information by accident while rummaging through her mother’s documents.

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The actress, who celebrated 40 years in the entertainment industry recently, had previously spokenol about how she discovered she was adopted.

She said at the time,

“It’s something like where one is just getting to share it in the public. It is something that I found out when I was much younger. Mine was a secret adoption. It was not something that my parents discussed.

“My mum’s elder sister wanted me to travel with her to Kenya and my mother was not around. She asked if I knew where my passport was and I was like yes yes yes. I know where mum keeps all the important documents.

“Then I go to the important suitcase that has all the important documents, where I found my passport but also found my adoption certificate. It was like ‘I beg your pardon’. I was 10-11 at the time. It was a bit shattering.

“It was tough. You know how you’re very sensitive as a child. There was just something in it letting you know they would have discussed it with you if it was something they wanted to discuss.

“But I got to a point when I was able to discuss it, myself and my mum. What was interesting is that she found it easier to discuss it with my older son than she did with me. My mum wasn’t comfortable discussing it.”