Afrobeat musician Femi Kuti has recounted how a DNA test revealed that two of the children he had believed were his were not biologically related to him.
The revelation stemmed from rumours that circulated at the Afrika Shrine, the Lagos entertainment venue associated with the Kuti family, that one of his children did not resemble him.
According to Femi, his sister advised him to conduct a DNA test to settle the issue and prevent possible problems in the future. Rather than test only the child who had become the subject of the rumour, he decided to test all his children.
The results, he said, showed that two of the children were not his biological offspring. The development came after he had also discovered that one of his girlfriends had been communicating romantically with another man.
In recounting the incident, Femi said he once caught the woman speaking to another man on the phone while she was at his home. He became suspicious after taking the phone and calling the number, only for a man to answer.
He said the experience left him heartbroken and prompted further questions about the paternity of the children he had with the woman.
Femi subsequently followed his sister’s advice and conducted DNA tests on the children. He said the results confirmed that two of them were not biologically his.
The musician had previously disclosed the matter in an interview that was published years before it resurfaced online. In 2014, his management clarified that reports portraying the DNA discovery as a recent development were misleading, explaining that the incident had actually occurred about eight years earlier.
Reports from the original disclosure identified the two children as a boy and a girl and stated that Femi had subsequently returned them to their mothers.
The story has since resurfaced, renewing public interest in the personal experience of the son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.