"Churchill's wife is family to me. We've hung out before together, and I mean, I don't see a big deal there..."
Hours after Gambian actress and film producer Rosaline Meurer said she had never met Nollywood actress-turned-evangelist Tonto Dikeh, netizens resurfaced a 2017 interview in which Ms Meurer appeared to say otherwise.
The resurfaced clip has attracted attention because Ms Meurer was widely perceived at the time as a friend of both Mr Churchill and Ms Dikeh, before she was publicly linked to tensions in their marriage.
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PREMIUM TIMES later reported that months after her infamous Hip TV interview, Ms Dikeh announced their separation two years after their 2015 marriage.
However, in February 2021, this newspaper reported that Mr Churchill introduced Ms Meurer as his new wife.
Before the announcement, Ms Dikeh revealed that Mr Churchill gifted Ms Meurer a car for her birthday.
Fresh denial
This newspaper on Wednesday reported that Ms Meurer denied being friends with Dikeh in a video she posted on her Instagram page, where she also refuted claims that she had unfollowed her husband, Olakunle Churchill, Dikeh's ex, on the platform.
"I've never met Tonto. I've never seen her. She doesn't have my number. I don't have her number. She's like eight to nine, 10 years older than I am.
"And I've read comments that I was her best friend, or she introduced me to her husband, and I snatched him. Today, I'm telling you guys, you're hearing it from the horse's mouth. If anyone has proof to the contrary, I dare you to bring it out. I was never friends with anyone. I don't even know her. I've never met her," she said in the interview.
Old interview
In an interview with Hip TV on 18 January 2017, the Merry Men actress admitted that she knew Ms Dikeh, describing her as "like family" and speaking warmly of their close friendship and numerous hangouts.
At the time, she urged the public to stop circulating claims that she had "snatched" Mr Churchill from the actress.
"His (Olakunle Churchill's) wife is family to me. We've hung out before together, and I mean, I don't see a big deal there. People should stop saying things that are not what they know", she said.
At the time, Ms Meurer clarified that she was not dating Mr Churchill, emphasising that she had known him for years and regarded him as a brother and part of her family.
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She described the rumours of an affair with Mr Churchill as "irritating to the ears," adding: "It's like asking, are you sleeping with your brother? As I said before, and I repeat, he is someone who has been a mentor to me and whom I deeply respect."
