Despite her history with men, Yvonne Nelson fell so passionately in love with Jamie Roberts, the man she had a child with and assumed would be her husband, that she stated in her book, “If I hadn’t loved him so deeply, our relationship would have continued even after the email.”
The said email which she described as “explosive”, came from Jamie’s Nigerian ex-wife. According to Yvonne Nelson in her memoir ‘I Am Not Yvonne Nelson’, “I knew her intention was to, destroy him to me, to keep us apart.”
Although the actress did not go into detail about what was stated about Jamie, she recalled the content of the aforementioned email, revealing facts that might break any woman, regardless of the depth of her love for a man.
“The email was written in a way that left very little or no room for failure on her part. She knew the effect she wanted to achieve with the email and she got just that,” Yvonne said.
“The email was detailed and explosively explicit. She took her time to reveal all the dirt about her ex-husband, details that would shake any woman no matter how deep her love for a man is. My love for Jamie was deep. It was the reason the email tore us apart.”
“When you love someone with your heart, they’re able to hurt you deeply. And to say I was hurt reading the email is an understatement. I was broken,” Yvonne added.
The content of the email made her lose trust in Jamie hence her “decision to go out of the relationship despite being pregnant for him. It was tough for both of us.”
Regardless, Yvonne gave Jamie plaudits for the attention he gives their daughter, Ryn, something she (Yvonne) never had as her father has never been there for her.
She said: “Jamie is still very much present in the life of our daughter. He is one of the most caring fathers I know. Having lived without a father, the last thing I would do is prevent my daughter from enjoying fatherly love.
“When Jamie visits to see Ryn, I give him the guest room. Sometimes, after a week, he would tell me he is going back.”
In what appears to be the camel that broke the straw back, Yvonne said she “lost the essence of falling in love and believing in a man” after Jamie’s encounter and her “worldview about marriage also changed afterwards”.
She now believes “in partnership, having someone you want and not having to sign a contract. As a woman, I’m trying to work hard and be independent. If marriage is to solve the insecurity of what happens when a man leaves, that doesn’t really apply to me now. If you’re in love with someone, why do you sign a contract? Signing that contract is like an acknowledgment that it won’t work and the manta. Contract cannot save it. You can sign a contract to be responsible for the kids and for other commitments, but you cannot sign a contract to love someone.”
Yvonne and Jamie had a Ryn in 2017. In 2019, she confirmed she had broken up with the British photographer who had two children from his previous marriages.
In her book, she said she would have been “his third African wife had things not ended so quickly and painfully.” She described Jamie as “a black man in a white man’s body” due to his love for “African food, music, and of course, its women.”