Veteran Nollywood actor Segun Arinze has opened up about why he remained single for 12 years following the collapse of his first marriage.

The 58-year-old actor first married actress Anne Njemanze in 1996, but their union ended in 1997.

After a 12-year break from matrimony, Arinze married Julie in 2008. The couple now has three children together.

Speaking on the WithChude podcast, Segun Arinze said, “I was confused about getting the right person” after he and Njemanze divorced.

The filmmaker said he was involved in many relationships until “I cried to God” in 2007 to give him a wife. Arinze said he initially refused to speak about his failed marriage “because people do not share everything”.

“I stayed out of marriage after the first one crashed. I stayed out of marriage for like 12 years before I remarried. I remarried in 2008. Not that I gave up on marriage, I was just really confused about getting the right person,” he said.

“I got into so many crazy relationships. Both the ones were good, crazy, and bad I have seen all. That year, 2007. I cried to God and said ‘Father Lord I have had enough can you just give me a wife’. I said just find me a wife. I remember I cried.

“And then I went to a wedding and I saw this beautiful woman. I asked my PA to get her number but he came back because he was scared. Julius Agwu and I were the MCs at the event. It was Don Chi’s wedding. And Julius Agwu said ‘My brother dey look for wife o’. When I sat I went to meet her, collected her contact and then invited her to a dinner. That is how it started. The rest is history.

“We are sixteen years in marriage now with three lovely kids. She is a lawyer. She is also my legal adviser.

“When that happened to me in 1997 I kept quiet. I did not say anything. I just let it go. Till date I said nothing and I do not want to say anything. I do not want to discuss anything about it. It happened. The shit will always happen. Everybody has a closet.”