BBNaija’s Phyna opens up on reasons for dropping family surname | Pulse Nigeria

Former Big Brother Naija winner Phyna has shared the reasons behind her decision to officially drop her family surname, Otabor.

Speaking in a recent interview with TVC News, she expressed that her choice stemmed from long-standing feelings of exclusion and mistreatment by her family.

She stressed that her choice is not her ‘disowning her family,’ but simply giving them what they want.

“This is me finally accepting how they’ve been treating me because they’ve never treated me as one of their own. This is me finally moving out of it because I was tired of begging anyone to be in my life. So I won’t say I disowned them, it’s me giving them what they’ve always wanted,” the reality TV star explained.

Reflecting on her upbringing, she revealed that she had always felt alone, even as a child, and has since worked hard to build a life for herself.

Phyna explained, “For now, I would say I’m by myself, I’ve actually always been by myself right from childhood so I’m not even bothered. See how I’ve worked hard for myself so for me to be in this stage right now, I’m not sure I need someone to stress me out. If I’m living by myself then I must be doing through right thing for myself because only myself and I know what I’ve been through. They haven’t even reached out to me and that’s how it’s always been, so I think we’re good now.”

This interview follows a heartfelt post on her X account (formerly Twitter) in November 2024, where she expressed frustration and confusion about her family.

Her post read, “I am publicly dropping my family surname OTABOR… it has been proven that I actually have no family and nobody knows how I came about…. I’m still searching for answers though… it’s been rough with me lately…… I’m in a place where I can’t even describe how I feel or what to call what I’m going through right now. Going up and the way I was tossed around relatives I should have suspected but guess I was too young… omo my head wan tear!!!!!!”