Award-winning talk show host and chairman of Fourthmainland Fund, Chude Jideonwo sits with Nigerian-American professor Dr. Uju Anya in this episode of #WithChude, delivering one of the show’s most unfiltered and intellectually charged conversations to date. In a dialogue marked by courage and clarity, Dr. Anya speaks openly about identity, love, politics, and the cost of telling uncomfortable truths in public spaces. With no scripts or performances, the episode offers a rare window into the life of a woman who has consistently refused to soften her convictions for approval.
In the conversation, Dr. Anya addresses the labels that have followed her for years, including being described as a “man hater,” and reflects on how those perceptions miss the complexity of her lived experience. She opens up about her marriage to her ex-husband, insisting it was real, rooted in genuine love, even as she later came to terms with loving women more deeply. She speaks candidly about opening up her marriage, the emotional toll it took, and the moment she knew the relationship was truly over after attending a Nigerian lesbian wedding in New York. These revelations are shared not for shock, but to reclaim agency over a narrative that has often been distorted or simplified.
Dr. Anya also revisits the global controversy surrounding her tweet at the death of Queen Elizabeth, offering context grounded in history and personal memory. “I am a child of genocide survivors,” she tells Chude, explaining that her words were shaped by the inherited trauma of the Biafran war and the millions of lives lost. The episode is a meditation on memory, power, love, and survival, and a reminder of how personal history intersects with public discourse.
WATCH EPISODE: https://vimeo.com/1154910114
