Nigerian Chef and Guinness World Record holder, Hilda Baci has revealed the most dramatic thing she ever did for love, a story from her childhood that she now views very differently.

The celebrity chef shared the story at the premiere of Loving Itohan, in an interview with BellaNaija. She said she once went weeks without eating because of a childhood crush.

According to her, she was very conscious of her appearance and believed that being attractive meant not eating in front of the person she liked, so she avoided food to keep up an image for him.

Looking back as an adult, Baci said she now understands that what she felt back then was not love. She explained that she was too shy to eat around her crush, and asked people not to judge her because she was only a child at the time. She also stressed that it was never a real relationship, only a crush.

In the same conversation, she spoke about the green flags she looks for in a romantic relationship, naming good communication and personal freedom as the qualities that matter most to her.

Baci rose to global fame in May 2023, when she completed a four-day, 100-hour cooking marathon in Lagos to break the Guinness World Record for the longest cooking marathon by an individual.

Her record was later surpassed by Irish chef Alan Fisher, and she has since added another Guinness title for a baking marathon. She remains one of Nigeria’s most recognised culinary personalities, and her candid reflection has added to the conversation about the pressures young girls sometimes feel to shape themselves for someone else’s approval.