Renowned Nigerian author, Chimamanda Adichie, who gave a speech at the Stockholm Forum for Gender Equality, disclosed that she was molested when she was 17 years old.
Chimamanda Adichie told those that were present at the event, that a ‘big man in the media’ slipped his bare hand into her clothes and her bra to squeeze her boobs when she was 17.
“I had written a book of poems and taken it to a big man in the media who I felt would support my quest to have it introduced to the public, but was dumbfounded when the man who had earlier praised me for writing the book did the unthinkable.
“He slipped his hand into my bra to squeeze my bre.asts. Then I was so shocked that I did nothing for seconds but then, I pushed his hand away, gently, nicely, because I didn’t want to offend him.
“Later that day, I broke out in a rash on my face, neck and chest, as though my body was recoiling, as though my body was saying what my lips had not said” she said.
In a country having a population of 170 million people, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born on 15 September 1977 in Enugu, Nigeria. She is the fifth child among six children to an Igbo parent by name Grace Ifeoma and James Nwoye Adichie.
Her family hometown is Abba in Anambra State, She grew up in Nsukka, in the house that was formerly occupied by famous Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe. Chimamanda’s father, who is now retired, has also worked at the University of Nigeria, situated in Nsukka.
When she was 19 years old, Chimamanda Adichie traveled to the United States. She gained a scholarship to study communication at Drexel University in Philadelphia for two years, and she went on to pursue a degree in communication and political science at Eastern Connecticut State University, where she also wrote articles for the university journal, the Campus Lantern. While in Connecticut, she stayed with her sister Ijeoma, who runs a medical practice close to the university.
