Nollywood actress Tonto Dikeh has shared a deeply personal account of her long struggle with addiction, revealing that she began smoking at the age of 13 and battled various forms of addiction for 27 years.
The actress made the disclosure while giving a testimony during a Sunday service at Streams of Joy International Church, where she spoke candidly about her past and the personal challenges she said shaped much of her early life.
According to Dikeh, her struggles went beyond smoking, as she also dealt with alcohol addiction, masturbation, and prolonged anger issues, which she described as deeply destructive to her emotional and spiritual well-being.
She characterised the experiences as a form of “demonic oppression,” saying her freedom from the habits only came after a renewed commitment to her spiritual life, which she believes brought lasting change.
“I smoked since I was 13. God healed me from masturbation, too. I have known myself to have sexual intercourse in the dream ever since I was a child,” the actress said during the testimony.
Dikeh attributed her early exposure to smoking to her upbringing, explaining that her father was a smoker and warning parents against unintentionally introducing children to harmful habits that could follow them into adulthood.
The 40-year-old actress also said she was recently delivered from what she described as “demonic anger,” a problem she admitted had previously strained her relationships. Following her testimony, the church’s founder, Pastor Jerry Eze, prayed for her, declaring that “the burden of sin is broken” and describing Dikeh as “a voice in her generation.”
