KASAPAHENE: Tiffany: The Nude Pictures Were Meant For My Boyfriend

Tuesday 6 December 2011

Ghanaian female rapper/singer, Tiffany of “Fake London Boy” fame who was recently in the news following the scandal of her nude pictures going viral, has confirmed taking several photographs of her exposed body on her mobile phone.

She however explains that the said pictures were for private purposes and meant for her boyfriend who resides outside the country.

Tiffany (Full name: Tiffany Owusu Hayden), opened up for the first time about two pictures of her exposed breasts being circulating on the internet (Face book, Twitter and other social networks and websites) in an exclusive interview on Peace FM’s “Entertainment Review”. Asked who took them; she said “I took them myself for private use”.

“First of all I have a personal life aside the music I do. I have a son and a man in my life but the nature of my work does not keep me stable at a particular place all the time. I am always traveling around but that doesn’t mean I should forget about my personal life,” she explained.

According to her, she communicates regularly with her boyfriend on Blackberry and sometimes when they miss each other they exchange pictures on the phone. “So I took those pictures for my boyfriend my fiancée who is the father of my son. It wasn’t for the public, Ghanaians or my fans”.

When host Kwesi Aboagye asked her about her boyfriend’s reaction to the leaked photos, Tiffany replied, “what he always told me was to be strong for myself and for my son... he knows that the pictures were meant for him”. She added that though some of her friends and family members might have obviously confronted him about this, she believes “He is very a strong man that is why he is with me because I am a strong woman”.

“We’ve both learnt from this and are all growing out of it,” she said.

Recounting the genesis of the incident, Tiffany revealed she took the pictures about five or seven months ago, before she traveled to London for the Ghana Hiplife Festival. Asked whether it was out of her own volition or her boyfriend coaxed her into taking the shots, the “Azonto” crooner replied, “it’s a private issue”. She however pointed out when one is involved with someone intimately and the couple have a child, its different from a mere relationship, “when you are away, you have to do certain things to let him that you still think about him and care for him”.

Asked how her personal pictures came to be in the public domain, Tiffany narrated that she was attacked by armed robbers at her home some months ago, where her money, jewelry, Plasma Television sets, bags, dresses and other personal items including her blackberry phone, were stolen.

“So I think that is how the pictures got out. For me I thought it was a personal cell phone I was using and I knew there was something like that on it at that time but I never thought I would lose it (phone) at that time. So it was stolen and someone decided to release it on the internet”.

She said she reported the case to the Tema Community 18 Police after the incident happened, but she had to travel to the UK.

“I returned to Ghana to perform at the Red Lipsticks All Female concert…later I received calls from some faceless people who claimed they have my phone and threatened to blackmail me if i refuse to pay them a ransom,” she revealed.

The blackmailer(s) initially demanded $40,000 dollars which Tiffany bargained down to about $15,000. Tiffany said she again had to travel to South Africa so she reported the case to the CID unit at Police headquarters before she left, only to be called by her mother that her nude pictures are all over the internet whiles she was in SA.

On Friday, November 25, 2011, Tiffany said the Police called to inform her that they have three suspects in their grips. According to the police, the suspects claimed coming across the phone “somewhere” so they took the memory chip out and sold the phone.

The suspects later said they saw Tiffany’s pictures on the memory chip, searched for her number and called to blackmail her.

5 suspects, all Nigerians students in Ghana, are in the grips of the law. They were arraigned before court last week and have been remanded for two weeks.

The “Last One” hit maker used the opportunity to apologize to her fans, friends and family members who were offended by the entire episode. She thanked the Ghana Police and everyone anybody who in diverse ways supported her when the incident occurred.

She said she has learnt her lessons adding that even if she decides to take any nude pictures of herself in the future she will delete them immediately after it had served its intended purpose.