Nigerian music star, Tiwa Savage has opened up once again about the leaked intimate video that shook her career in 2021, describing herself as a victim and revealing that the leak was not the accident she was initially told but the result of a bet made by her then boyfriend with his friends. 

Speaking on the subject in a recent interview, the singer said that reflecting on the sex tape scandal was for years the way she coped with it publicly, but admitted that in hindsight she never truly processed the pain it caused her.

The Grammy nominated artist explained that at the time of the leak, her boyfriend told her he had accidentally pressed send while trying to save the video, a story she believed until she later learned the truth.

She said she eventually discovered that the leak had actually been orchestrated as part of a wager between him and his friends, a revelation that deepened the sense of betrayal she felt from someone she had trusted deeply.

She noted that trusting him as her partner made the eventual discovery even more painful, since she had believed she was safe sharing something so private with him.

The 2021 scandal had come at one of the most difficult periods of Tiwa Savage’s life, coinciding with the loss of her father, and she has previously described it as among the lowest points of her career.

At the time, she also faced attempts at blackmail from people demanding money in exchange for not releasing the footage further, a situation she chose to confront publicly rather than allow to be used against her. Despite the turmoil, she has said she refused to let the episode define her, using music as an outlet to push through the experience even as she now acknowledges she buried much of the hurt rather than fully working through it.

Her latest comments have reignited conversation online around consent, betrayal and the particular scrutiny female celebrities face when private moments are exposed without their permission. Since the incident, Tiwa Savage has continued to build on her status as one of Africa’s leading female artists, headlining major stages and collaborating with international acts, with fans and colleagues pointing to her resilience in the years since the scandal first broke.